French Economist Piketty: Bill Gates Is a Fan — Except on Paying More Taxes

French economist Thomas Piketty claims the very wealthy and successful Bill Gates is among his fans–except when it comes to paying more taxes.

According to Bloomberg, Piketty, who penned the best-selling Capital in the Twenty-First Century, in which he urges taxes be raised on successful people to fix the problem of income inequality, recently discussed a conversation he had with Gates.

“He told me, ‘I love everything that’s in your book, but I don’t want to pay more tax,’” said Piketty, 43, about Gates.

“I understand his point,” Piketty added. “I think he sincerely believes he’s more efficient than the government, and you know, maybe he is sometimes.”

Gates is the primary source of private funding of the Common Core standards, the most recent education initiative with the purpose of addressing the achievement gap, another version of income inequality. Last year, the Microsoft founder said, “The country as a whole has a huge problem that low-income kids get less good education than suburban kids get … and that is a huge challenge.

However, according to The Washington Post, Gates is “irritated” by the resistance to the standards from grassroots organizations who want education returned to the states and local governments, out of the hands of the federal government and corporate cronies.