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.
He is the epitome of someone who doesn't give a fig for the little guy as he knows full well that when his taxes are increased so will everyone's!
comrades:
80% of warren buffet’s entire wealth should be confiscated to support the socialist state.
/s
The treasury department keeps a web site where you can log in and donate money. It accepts any amount you wish to donate. It will all be applied to the debt. If there were a penny’s worth of truth to Buffet’s anxiety to pay more taxes, we’d hear how much he’d donated here.
Furthermore, as the owner, Buffett CHOOSES not to pay himself a salary. He could easily choose to pay himself an income and thus subject himself to the income tax.
He delays income and uses the appreciation of invests.
"Our favorite holding period is forever You only pay income taxes at any rate on realized appreciation.
An investment with a holding period of forever incurs a capital gains tax of 0%, while all along the holder can be getting wealthy from appreciation."
- Warren Buffet
buffett doesn’t take a salary, so avoids income tax. his tax comes from capital gains - a lower rate. he is passing on most of his wealth to charity - avoiding tax that way as well. he says one thing: does another
Hey Warren, if you want to pay higher taxes, it’s simple - Don’t put in for all of those Tax Loopholes! ... A$$hole
He does know he can willingly pay as much as he wants right?
Go ahead yourself Warren-—just contribute more taxes to the US Treasury on your own. Write a big, fat check to Uncle Sham and frame it. You’re sounding more like Jimmy Buffett the older you get.
***...is demanding the U.S. government make the rich like him pay higher taxes...***
You d****ed old fool! You can voluntarily give the government as much as you want above what you are taxed!
Add me to the chorus, until I see him donating to the government and avoid using loopholes and tricks that avoid taxes he can pack sand with the rest of the Friends of Obama.
Of course, he doesn't need the Congress to raise his taxes; he can do it himself. BTW, does Buffet take advantage of any deductions or tax loopholes?
What an idiot. I bet he couldn’t liquidate even $2 billion of that $80 billion.
I keep this piece I posted on Buffet during Christmas in my website because of this phoney’s pronouncements
Mr Potter’s Epiphany
http://www.theusmat.com/
Buffett owns a company that is a major seller of tax advantaged life insurance policies that shift taxable income to minimally taxed estates. Raising income taxes on the rich would spur the demand for such policies and earn lush rewards for Buffett.
On your tax form, don’t they offer the option to volunteer a portion of your money to the federal government?
I’d be interested in seeing those forms of Buffett.
I remember noticing a picture in the paper about 25 years ago of a lovely home on nice acerage that I had driven past many times in Independence Ky.
So I read the article relating that the estate of the owner, a German immigrant had been settled.
He had left his children a nice chunk of change, but in gratitude to his adopted country he had given the bulk of his estate, amounting to many millions to the US Treasury.
I thought even at that time that while extremely noble, he had, sadly, been hoodwinked.
People like that gentleman are always made a monkey of.
There are many more who would do as he did but for the fact they have seen that the jackals in government can always spend it one hundred times faster than an honest man can earn it, and give it.
TIRED OF THESE MORONS AND THEIR PHONY RAISE MY TAXES NONSENSE.
YOU WANT TO WASTE MORE MONEY ON THE GOVERNMENT? WRITE A CHECK!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.