Over a decade ago, I got a call from Bill Gates.
Not the Bill Gates you’re probably thinking of. It was Bill Gates Sr., the Microsoft founder’s dad. He was eager to speak out in support of the federal estate tax, our nation’s only levy on inherited wealth.
He called it the “gratitude tax.” If you were fortunate enough to make millions, he believed, then you should “recycle your opportunity” for the next generation.
How might that work?
Bill Gates Sr. served in the Army in World War II. When he returned, the GI Bill enabled him to attend college and law school for free. His debt-free education propelled him to a career as an attorney and allowed him to provide excellent educational opportunities to his three children — one of whom is one of the two richest people on the planet.
For today’s college-age youth, talk of a debt-free education sounds like science fiction. Over 40 million Americans owe student debt. The average student borrower graduated last year with $33,000 worth.
There’s no public benefit served by saddling the next generation with astronomical amounts of student debt. Research shows that student debt delays homeownership, discourages public service careers, and reduces entrepreneurial risk-taking.
Over the last three decades, staggering inequalities of income, wealth, and opportunity have emerged. As Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen observed recently, the U.S. households in the bottom 50 percent lost half their net worth between 1989 and 2013, while the top 5 percent saw their net worth double.
This inequality is hitting the rising generation hard, as today’s students graduate into a much tougher job market than their parents did.
We need a GI Bill for the next generation. It would be a game changer for equality of opportunity.
That’s where the “gratitude tax” comes in.
Back in Washington State, Gates Sr. championed something called the Legacy Education Trust Fund — a dedicated education account capitalized by the state’s estate tax.
A similar fund at the national level — call it the Education Opportunity Recycling Fund — could provide debt-free or low-cost tuition for all American students, financed by revenue from the federal estate tax.
Access to funds could be linked to completion of two years of national service, either in the military or in community service programs such as AmeriCorps. The current benefits for both of these forms of national service are woefully insufficient to expand college opportunity.
The “recycling fund” would be the mechanism through which America’s millionaires and billionaires would pay back the society that made their wealth possible, thanks in part to public investments in education, infrastructure, property rights protections, and so much more.
The fund would have at least three major benefits.
First, it would boost college access while reducing student debt.
Second, it would put a brake on the growing concentration of wealth and power that’s corroding our democracy.
And finally, it would help reweave the social fabric of our communities, as young people in national service programs work side-by-side as teacher aides, elder care workers, and protectors of our natural areas.
The Greatest Generation after World War II was created not only by their own grit, but also through major public investments in their prosperity.
A similar investment is required for the next generation to rise to their full potential. Why should our greatest generation be behind us?
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $86,000 in one-time donations and to add 1260 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy