Bill Gates at the New Economy Forum in China in November 2019. | Hou Yu/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images The world’s richest person reflects on taxing the rich. The year 2019 saw Bill Gates reclaim his title as the world’s richest person from Jeff Bezos — and come under harsher scrutiny than ever amid a new, powerful backlash against the billionaire class and the economic system that produces extraordinary wealth like his.