Buffett hits back at Trump over tax comments

Reuters ^ | 10/10/16

[Impala64ssa]

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett denied on Monday an allegation by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that he, like Trump, had taken "a massive deduction" that allowed him to avoid federal income taxes.

Buffett said he paid about $1.85 million in income tax in 2015, and that returns for previous years were similar in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.

Buffett said he was being audited by the Internal Revenue Service, but had "no problem" releasing his tax information.

Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing ongoing audits by the IRS.

"I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13," Buffett said in a statement, adding that "being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year."

Buffett, ranked the world's third-richest person by Forbes magazine, said he had copies of all 72 of his returns "and none uses a carryforward."

Responding to an Oct. 1 New York Times story, Trump acknowledged during the presidential-candidates' debate on Sunday that he had used investment losses to avoid paying taxes.

Trump repeatedly said he was only taking advantage of tax provisions used by wealthy people who support Clinton. "I absolutely used it, and so did Warren Buffett ...", he said.

The Times reported that Trump's declared loss of $916 million in 1995 was so large that he could legally have avoided paying any federal income taxes for up to 18 years.

Buffett, chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N), said his 2015 tax return showed adjusted gross income of $11,563,931.

"My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes," he said.

[woweeitsme]

Those Kirby people better never come to my house again.

I went through the full demo BEFORE they even considered cleaning my carpet. When I said I wasn’t interested in buying one, they called their “manager” that was with them to come in and do the hard sell. He said they could get it done at $50/month. I told them I could not afford that. He looked at my house, which was a new home at the time, and said that I could surely afford it. I guess they think that just because I was in a new house, I had money out the wazoo.

I asked him if he was calling me a liar and told him to get out and keep his carpet cleaning. They wasted about 2 hours of my day when the wife was working and I had 3 young kids at home with me. I was so mad that I warned all the other neighbors about them. Nasty, nasty people.

[Original Lurker]

Buffet has donated some one billion dollars to abortion providers.
Buffet’s camel won’t be able to kneel low enough to get through the city gates (i.e., eye of the needle).

[Titus-Maximus]

The guys has $66 Billion in assets and only declares 11 million in taxable income????????

The return is .0167%. Way less than Treasury bonds.

That means the income is being hidden.

This statement is evidence of gaming the system.

[Western Phil]

“Trump has refused to release his tax returns, citing ongoing audits by the IRS.”

Were Trump a Democrat, this would say, “Trump has declined to release his tax returns, citing ongoing audits by the IRS.”