Face it....when you buy a share (today BRK-A is priced at 217,730)....you aren’t getting a dividend. Buffett plows the profits back into the stock itself, so you see huge gains. The thing is...after taxation takes place, the stock takes a hit. If he used all the credits possible, the stock would be valued at a higher level each year.
Years ago, I remember reading a commentary by a guy who had figured out a tax-credit scheme. He bought enough property in a rural area, that he was going to be officially on paper....a “farmer”. He knew nothing about business, but had spent hours and hours surveying the various tax credits. He put a couple of cows on the property, tossed up a barn, and had around $15,000 a year which were a credit in some fashion....against his $100,000 of normal income via an IT job. On paper, it’s all legal and justified. If you went to find some production or sales from his farm....none exist. The tax law is screwed up.....but it’s all legal and created by the stupid senators that we send up.
All them Congress critters and Sinators enter poor and leave rich, ya know for the chillens ...