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- Mark Cuban said billionaires are a product of the American Dream and what makes the US special.
- The "Shark Tank" star said it's patriotic to get "filthy, stinkin' rich" then pay large taxes.
- Building wealth often creates jobs while taxes fund key public services, Cuban said.
Mark Cuban says billionaires are a product of boundless opportunity — and people should take pride in creating wealth as the money flows back into society.
Furing an interview for a new Netflix series titled "What's Next? The Future with Bill Gates," Cuban noted there are relatively few billionaires in the world.
"And you can say, 'Yeah, having a billion dollars, that's kinda crazy,' but you also have to realize that that's not the problem. That's a symptom of something amazing. It's the American dream. That's what makes America special," the "Shark Tank" star said.
Cuban, who became a billionaire by selling his internet-radio startup to Yahoo for $5.7 billion in 1999, was arguing that three-comma net worths show how wildly successful people can become in countries like the US that support entrepreneurship and free enterprise.
The Dallas Mavericks minority owner underscored that building a vast personal fortune often requires starting a business, hiring lots of people, paying suppliers for equipment and services, and handing a chunk of the profits to the government.
"One of the most patriotic things that you can do as an American is go out and get filthy, stinkin' rich, create a ton of jobs, invest in your company and others, and then pay your taxes," Cuban said.
He added: "When I write that check to the IRS for all those hundreds of millions of dollars, it's not that I like it, but I am proud of it because, you know, the roads, the military, the police, teachers, Medicaid, Medicare — that's a big part of where our taxpayer dollars go, and I feel like I've given something back."
Cuban often celebrates self-starters and go-getters on "Shark Tank," and has praised taxation as vital for paying public employees, funding local services, and financing critical infrastructure.
"I would not be in this position without this country, because nothing happens that's great — whether it's healthcare, teachers, roads, you name it — without people paying their taxes. It may be painful when you write that big check, but just think about how you got there," he said in an interview last fall.
Skeptics of billionaires point out that many of them pay paltry amounts of tax, and severe wealth inequality across much of the world shows that resources need to be distributed more fairly.
Even when the likes of Gates and Warren Buffett pledge to give most of their wealth to good causes, critics question whether they should be in charge of dispensing their enormous wealth instead of the government.