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Bill Gates too rich for tax computer
Agence France Presse | February 1, 2006

Posted on 01/31/2006 7:56:05 PM PST by HAL9000

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, the world's richest man, said today the tax office in the US has to store his financial data on a special computer because his fortune is so vast.

"My tax return in the United States has to be kept on a special computer because their normal computers can't deal with the numbers," he said at a Microsoft conference held in Lisbon.

"So I am constantly getting these notices telling me I haven't paid something when really it is just on the wrong computer," he added in comments broadcast on television.

"Then they will send me another notice telling me how bad they feel they that they sent me a notice that was a mistake," he said

Gates's fortune is put at $47 billion, according to the latest list of the world's rich published by Forbes magazine.

Last month Time magazine named Gates and his wife Melinda, along with rock star Bono, its Persons of the Year for 2005, citing their charitable work and activism aimed at reducing global poverty and improving world health.

The couple's Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has a $29 billion endowment making it the world's biggest charity.



TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billgates; billionaires; gates; irs; microsoft; overflow; taxes
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To: Cobra64

AS/400, iSeries, i5, whatever. Store the values in DB2/400 as Packed Decimal. Let's see, 47 billion? We'd need a field capable of holding 47,000,000,000.00. That's 13,2 Packed. Better leave a little growing room for Billy's fortune and go 15,2 Packed. That field would require 8 bytes of storage... I think.


21 posted on 01/31/2006 8:36:06 PM PST by DigitalVideoDude
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To: DigitalVideoDude

Exactly. Just move Mr. Gates to the actuarian machine that calcs Fed budgets.


22 posted on 01/31/2006 8:42:59 PM PST by txhurl (Gingrich/North '08)
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To: SamAdams76

"Only problem is, the computer runs on Linux."

Or it runs on Microsoft which says more about him and his comapany than it does the harware or Irs?


23 posted on 01/31/2006 8:45:09 PM PST by Smartaleck
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To: Smartaleck

They do mine on a Post It Note.


24 posted on 01/31/2006 8:53:28 PM PST by HRJames (Philippine Branch of FR)
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To: cyborg

LOL!


25 posted on 01/31/2006 8:54:46 PM PST by Larry Lucido
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To: DigitalVideoDude

I have no idea what your post means but I'm impressed,really impressed.


26 posted on 01/31/2006 8:56:52 PM PST by Mears (The Killer Queen-caviar and cigarettes.)
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To: Nomorjer Kinov
He went from 0 to $50 billion in two decades. I'm thinking that his income is pretty good. =^)

"Working" income aside, returns on $20bn+ of investments has to top a billion on a bad year.

27 posted on 01/31/2006 9:06:55 PM PST by Teacher317
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To: Mears

I can explain.

15,2 Packed Decimal

15,2 means 15 decimal digits, 2 to the right of the decimal point.

Packet Decimal means that you store your decimal digits in 4-bits each (nibbles). 15 digits would require 8 bytes or 16 nibbles. That's Packed Decimal, a legacy numeric data type used to save storage space back in the days when megabyte drives cost megabucks.

HTH


28 posted on 01/31/2006 9:20:49 PM PST by DigitalVideoDude
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To: DigitalVideoDude

Gotcha !!! :>)


29 posted on 01/31/2006 9:22:26 PM PST by Mears (The Killer Queen-caviar and cigarettes.)
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To: Nomorjer Kinov

His income must be huge as well. 1.5% dividend on $47 billion in Microsoft stock is about $660 million a year in income. $55 million a month. About $2 million a day.


30 posted on 01/31/2006 9:57:40 PM PST by spyone
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To: 359Henrie

Are you serious? All he has to do is close the doors on Microsoft and we are in trouble. He has one of the largest companies and employees. I would be nicer to him.


31 posted on 01/31/2006 10:03:41 PM PST by napscoordinator
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To: spyone; Teacher317

Yes, $1, $2, $5 billion is megabucks. I'm just wondering if Gates was engaging in some hyperbole. After all, such income is not out of line when you consider major US corporations. Are there special computers used for the complex tax returns of WalMart, Exxon or GM?


32 posted on 01/31/2006 10:16:21 PM PST by Nomorjer Kinov (If the opposite of "pro" is "con" , what is the opposite of progress?)
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To: HAL9000

Where's the quote of Gates saying computer users don't need x amount of hard drive?


33 posted on 01/31/2006 10:21:18 PM PST by Extremely Extreme Extremist (None genuine without my signature - Jim Beam)
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To: HAL9000

Gates has declared himself as a separate country with his own flag and that all taxation requests should be sent to his brother who is still an American...


34 posted on 01/31/2006 11:21:54 PM PST by Blind Eye Jones
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To: HAL9000
Didn't somebody once say that $640,000 is enough for anybody? Or something like that.
35 posted on 02/01/2006 4:20:48 AM PST by Physicist
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To: napscoordinator
Sure.

Be sure to be nice to George Soros while you are at it.

They're cut from the same cloth.

36 posted on 02/01/2006 4:24:13 AM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
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To: mkjessup
From 3.1 to Vista, it is a Windows world and like it or not, it's going to stay that way.

"It's a WordPerfect world and like it or not, it's going to stay that way." Heard in Orem, UT circa 1994.

"It's an IBM world and like it or not, you'll all be using the MCA bus." Heard in Armonk, NY circa 1992.

"It's a Palm Pilot world and like it or not, no Windows CE upstart is going to change that." Heard in San Jose, CA circa 2000.

Are you sure you want to say that kind of thing when the past has shown over and over again that these things always change?

37 posted on 02/01/2006 4:29:13 AM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
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To: Knitebane
From 3.1 to Vista, it is a Windows world and like it or not, it's going to stay that way.

"It's a WordPerfect world and like it or not, it's going to stay that way." Heard in Orem, UT circa 1994.

"It's an IBM world and like it or not, you'll all be using the MCA bus." Heard in Armonk, NY circa 1992.

"It's a Palm Pilot world and like it or not, no Windows CE upstart is going to change that." Heard in San Jose, CA circa 2000.

Are you sure you want to say that kind of thing when the past has shown over and over again that these things always change?

Sure, I'll say 'that kind of thing' because it infuriates the typical Apple-fanatic who never misses a chance to bash Microsoft, Windows, Bill Gates, not necessarily in that order.

If the computing world were divided up into political factions, Windows would be represented by Red States, Linux by Blue States and Apple users would be trying to keep the Reform Party alive.

LOL
38 posted on 02/01/2006 8:17:54 AM PST by mkjessup ("Hi, I'm Ted Kennedy speaking on behalf of Xanax. With a Chivas Regal chaser, it's GREAT!")
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To: Knitebane

Are they friends? I never heard anything about them hanging out. All I know it that Bill Gates took nothing and made it into a multi billion dollar company that allows us to do what we are doing right now. That is all I am saying. I don't honor the guy, just giving credit where it is due.


39 posted on 02/01/2006 8:55:13 AM PST by napscoordinator
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To: napscoordinator
Are they friends? I never heard anything about them hanging out.

Don't know if they are friends or not, but they're both left-wing billionare collectivist pigs.

All I know it that Bill Gates took nothing and made it into a multi billion dollar company that allows us to do what we are doing right now.

Actually, William H. Gates III took a lot of William H. Gates, Jr's money, "borrowed" a lot of code from other people, stole computer time from Harvard (for which he was kicked out) and used theft, chicanery and backstabbing (along with daddy's bankroll) to build an empire. But hey, what's a little illegal, immoral or unethical activity between left-wing collectivists, right comrade?

That is all I am saying. I don't honor the guy, just giving credit where it is due.

And I give Alfonse Capone a lot of credit for the soup kitchens he opened up in Chicago during the Depression. That doesn't excuse his other activities, nor will it put him on my most admired list.

40 posted on 02/02/2006 12:52:43 AM PST by Knitebane (Happily Microsoft free since 1999.)
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