A Call for ‘Scrooge McDucks’ to Pinch Fewer Pennies

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Bill Gross, the co-founder of Pimco, said he and his wife planned to give all their wealth away before they die.Credit Jason Reed/Reuters

The billionaire bond analyst Bill Gross is calling on “the Scrooge McDucks” of the world to share a little more of their wealth.

In his latest monthly Investment Outlook, Mr. Gross, the co-founder of Pimco, tells his readers — whom he refers to as the Scrooge McDucks — that the era of taxing capital gains at rates below labor should end.

“Admit that you, and I and others in the magnificent ‘1 percent’ grew up in a gilded age of credit, where those who borrowed money or charged fees on expanding financial assets had a much better chance of making it to the big tent than those who used their hands for a living,” he wrote.

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Mr. Gross was referring to tax breaks that some of the wealthiest Americans receive because they earn their income through investments, which are taxed at a lower rate than regular income. This has led to a yawning gap between the rich and the poor. Since the 1970s, the percentage of total pretax income in the United States earned by the 1 percent has more than doubled, to 20 percent, he added.

For Mr. Gross, whose net worth is estimated to be about $2.2 billion, giving some of it away is his latest theme. On Wednesday, he told CNBC that he and his wife planned to give all their wealth away before they die.

The letter and pledge follow an exchange on Twitter last week between Mr. Gross and Carl C. Icahn, the activist investor who has called for Apple to return more of its cash to shareholders. On Twitter, Mr. Gross lashed out at Mr. Icahn for his focus on Apple:

Mr. Icahn fired back that if Mr. Gross “really wanted to do good, why not join givingpledge.org like Gates, I and many others.” The Giving Pledge is a group of wealthy Americans who have pledged to give away at least half of their fortunes. It was organized by Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, and Warren E. Buffett.

Mr. Gross’s November letter includes the image of a golden duck wearing a Scrooge hat.

“Smoke that cigar, enjoy that Chateau Lafite,” but acknowledge that the good fortune has been the result of a boom in credit over the last three decades, he wrote.

“You rode it,” he added, now share it.