Posted on 08/15/2011 2:51:20 PM PDT by IbJensen
Warren Buffett, the third wealthiest man in the world with a net worth of about $80 billion, is demanding the U.S. government make the rich like him pay higher taxes and says they should no longer be protected like endangered “spotted owls.”
In a New York Times op-ed on Monday, titled “Stop Coddling the Rich,” Buffett, Berkshire Hathaway’s chair and CEO, said he and his “mega-rich” friends have been spared the “shared sacrifice” the country’s leaders have asked for as the country veers toward a double-dip recession.
“While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks,” he wrote.
“These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.”
White House spokesman Jay Carney on Monday cited Buffett’s op-ed when he was asked by reporters if there is hope for the 12-member supercomittee, which has been charged with crafting a deficit reduction plan. Carney quoted Buffett, saying that the government can no longer “coddle the super rich.”
In The New York Times, Buffett observed that investment managers earn billions, but only pay a 15 percent tax rate.
Buffett said his 2010 tax bill, including income and payroll taxes, totaled $6,938,744 — or 17.4 percent of his taxable income. Most people in his office pay 33 percent to 41 percent, he said.
He noted 80 percent of government revenue came from personal income and payroll taxes, adding the “mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.”
Buffett suggests raising taxes for anyone with a taxable income of more than $1 million, and an even higher rate for anyone making $10 million or more.
“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice,” Buffett wrote.
His comments come as the 12-member congressional supercommittee will soon begin work to tackle the nation’s deficit and some in Congress, and President Barack Obama, are pushing for the panel to back higher taxes on the wealthy.
Why does he even say such a thing? Warren Buffet loses all credibility making these kinds of statements. Buffet has used every loophole to avoid taxes his entire life, he can pay more taxes any time if he really wanted to.
What is Warren Buffet’s motivation to fool so many people into raising taxes?
bttt
Like most liberals he plays fast and loose with other peoples money.
he can hire me for a salary of $500 million a year. I promise I’ll fill out the proper forms so the government gets those taxes as he wishes.
Just give the government as much as you want Warren, but don’t speak for me. You have earned no right to speak for me. No one is stopping you from giving everything you own to the government. Just do it. Put up or shut up.
* If the Federal Government is such a good distributor of funds, why would Buffet and Bill Gates set up a separate foundation to manage your charitable donations? Go ahead and give it to the IRS.
* You didn’t do this why??? Because you said that that you would be better at allocating the dollars to “worthy” projects.
He can regard his loss of Social Security income as a tax increase and stop bothering us with his hypocritical socialisting rhetoric.
If the politicians in Washington had any sense—and sense of humor—they’d pass rush legislation to take Buffet up on it. Why not simply confiscate his assets and those of the rest of the billionaires??? At least those who are registered Democrats. Then put them on Social Security and Obamacare.
Hey Warren, why don’t you use your billions to start corporations around the country that make things and provide services and hire lots of employees. You know, corporations that do more than just trade paper.
Buchanan had the right idea, but he needed a sharper tongue to put it to Buffett.
“How much more do you personally want to be taxed? $5 billion? $10 billion? Unless you are a flaming hypocrite, you won’t wait for the government to pass a law. You will, right now, make out a check that will be legally payable to the government for that amount. And if you don’t do that, then you are being a two-faced, forked-tongued, duplicitous schemer.
“So, Mr. Buffett, are you going to put up, or shut up? For the rest of your life do you want to be known as the man whose word is no good? Who wants others to do things he knows he can avoid doing himself? Only one person can save your credibility and honor right now, Mr. Buffett, and that person is you—checkbook in hand.”
There is nothing stopping him from donating a couple of billion to the IRS, after taxes.
This is absurd. Write a check to your favorite school, charity, nonprofit hospital, etc. Write a large check. Nothing is stopping you, Mr. Buffett, and the money would get to its destination and used without getting eaten along the way by layers of bureaucracy.
Whip put your checkbook, Warren. The US Treasury will gladly accept your SIZABLE contribution.
“I’d love it if just once, some reporter would pipe up and offer Mr Buffett the use of his pen to write that that check here and now on live t.v.......10 to 1 the old goat would stutter and wander off.”
Spot on!
They could each buy a pile of gold and donated it to the national trust.
You are so right.
Show me a politician who would buy your vote and I’ll show you one who is lying to your face.
Rome lasted 2000 years in part because so few people were allowed to vote.
Does Buffet have any accountants?
Sometime in the early eighties, Buffet discovered that any company in which Berkshire acquired at least an eighty percent share could consolidate its balance sheet with Berkshire's for income tax purposes, making it possible to transfer income, assets, and liabilities between companies without incurring any income tax consequences. Acquiring eighty percent avoids the double tax on distributions of income or dividends related to corporations. From that point forward, Buffet preferred investing in companies where he could buy the whole company or at least companies where he could acquire the magic eighty percent. Tax avoidance has been one of his key growth accelerators and a pillar of his investment philosophy. Berkshire almost never pays any short term capital gains taxes and it doesn't pay dividends at all for the same reason.
If Buffet was a Republican and kept announcing his desire for tax cuts to allow him to invest in businesses in order to provide more jobs instead of letting government tax the money and use it to pay people not to work, it is a sure bet the media would discuss his hypocrisy at every opportunity and they would discuss it in detail every time Buffet opened his mouth about tax cuts.
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