US News
Warren Buffett: The rich must pay more taxes
By M&C US News Nov 17, 2007, 21:00 GMT
Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, testifies about the estate tax, often called the death tax, during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington DC USA on 14 November 2007. Buffett argued that the tax is fair and should be left alone. EPA/MATTHEW CAVANAUGH
The nation's second richest man, Warren Buffett, is shaming his fellow top tier 1% brethren, and asking that percentage-wise, why do the little people pay more taxes than the fortunate few?
Buffett, the billionaire founder of the investment firm Berkshire Hathaway Inc. went to Washington to ask Congress not to cut his taxes.
Buffett says the super-rich should be taxed more, not less.
In particular Buffett urged the Senate Finance Committee not to repeal the estate tax. It is scheduled to come up for a vote, perhaps as soon as this week.
He told the committee that he recently compared how much he pays in taxes in terms of a percentage of his salary to what his employees pay.
The results? Buffett says he pays 18 percent of his salary to the IRS while the rest of his staff pays nearly twice that, 33 percent, a lopsided equation that put Buffett in a Robin Hood frame of mind.
"Frankly, an economy where my receptionist pays a lot higher tax rate than, than I do does not strike me as a just economy," he told lawmakers.
Buffet has challenged the elite members of the Forbes 400 list to do their own calculations and compare their tax rate with their receptionists, and then consider his challenge that the rich should pay more.
"I see nothing wrong with those who have been blessed by this society to give a larger portion of their income to the society than somebody that's working very, very hard to make ends meet," Buffett said.
More than 25 billionaires including Ted Turner and Michael Bloomberg declined to talk to ABC News regarding Buffett's fairness in taxation plea.
Yet a few rich guys did speak to Forbes magazine. One suggested that Buffett should keep to his area of expertise, calling his ideas "grossly simplistic." Another wondered whether Buffett is going senile.
ABC News wasn't having it, and asked Gene Sperling from the Center for American Progress, a think tank his opinion in rebuttal to the Forbes billionaires that gave statements to the magazine.
"I don't think it's a gross oversimplification at all," said Gene Sperling,
"The richest families in our country pay a lower tax rate than the people who take care of their children, or who teach in their schools, or who would put out a fire if their house were to start to burn," Sperling said.
What about that 55 percent estate tax billionaires pay when they die?
Buffett says repealing the estate tax or the "death tax" as the GOP calls it helps only the rich who don't need the help.
Buffett has promised $1 million to the charity of his or her choice for any billionaire who does the math in his or her office and proves him wrong.
Buffett says three of his close friends have taken him up on the challenge and they all came up with the same results:
Ordinary folks are suffering under tax rates nearly twice as high as what billionaires pay.
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....34% of the total tax revenue.
He also makes it clear that the treatment the rich get from the current administration is a privileged one compared to the lower income .Thanks to the GOP and Bush the rich pay less taxes than the poor .A shame to them and an embarassment to all the people that will still vote for them.
..lowering taxes is responsible for the record tax money we NOW are enjoying! It even affect the states, as it produced revenue for them as well!
Tax REVENUE pays for services Tonny, not tax rates.Wealthey american do two things with money: invest it or shelter it. Bush, correctly, knows he'll get more out of money in the US earnings machine. Luddite libnazi's use the tax code for social justice, them bieing judge jury and executioner of course but how valid is that if the money itself quits showing up? Libnazis don't care though, it's the SHOW they care about. This is why No-Child-Left-Behind was a REPUB bill.
Boy howdy! Was Ol GW ever right too! $436 BILLION since his tax cut over income projections! Too bad this guy isn't running GM.
The Bush economy is the envy of the world: Record employment, low inflation, record growth, record tax receipts, historic high houseold wealth. No matter what you say about Bush 2, he has towed the supply side econ linee and it has paid off handsomely!
Now your garden variety libnazi will start mouthing about dollar weakness, but let's look at that: Whats the effect?
If you buy foreign goods form a nation with a lousy exchange rate, you'll get hurt. However, American goods prices (my goods), as stated by my Canadian associate just dropped 35%! result? They are buying like hotcakes! A low dollar is acually a HEDGE against a slowdown!
These foreign nations loan at higher rates of return than America, drawing capital away from dollars. Then, they get stuck with dollars. Then they run to America and mouth something about 'dollar support' their way of getting us to buy our dollars back at a loss and get cornholed in the process.
Bush, ...who else...., decides to show them a game of Texas chicken, and just let's the dollar really float,(freemarket president..golly! Who knew!?)
and it floats down. Result: eurotrash finince ministers crap their pants as their dollars just drop through the floor. Now, they slum through his office, and BUSH has leverage on just about ANYTHING he wants! Last week it was Merkel hand jobbing Iran. Before that, Sarkozy. God...Bush theatre...it is just golden!
I guess someone forgot to tell them about Bush....how could they not know by now?
Tonny, you don't actually think it was about something besides money, do you?
@ SP4:
''The Bush economy is the envy of the world: Record employment, low inflation, record growth, record tax receipts, historic high houseold [sic] wealth. No matter what you say about Bush 2, he has towed the supply side econ linee [sic] and it has paid off handsomely!''
Well, well, you and your vile crowd then can really enjoy this coming recession ... depression ... the jury is still divided. The ''historic household wealth'' you rant about will not be quite as ''historic'' next year when the shit will really hit the fan about the mortgage problems -- meanwhile, these problems already eat into consumption, according to the FT.
Bush 2 is an imbecile -- but that really does not matter anymore; the trouble is now inevitable, non-reversable. Perhaps the ''libnazis'' decide to hunt down morons like you, because you idiots are also responsible.
The problem with SP4 is that he really believes the crap he shovels here. I am sure he is part of the group that this economy has hurt and is afraid to admit it. When the last election was over all I could think is that I hope that middle and lower class citizens of this country that voted for this group of liars/draft dodgers/ignorant fools, were happy driving to their $7.00 per hours jobs, paying 2.00 per gallon for the gas in their cars to get to work, and taking their children to the doctor they could not pay for, and having their teeth fall out as they do not have dental benefits were happy.
As usual 90% of what SP4 states here is 'Rush news', and is 90% incorrect. He never attended a economics class in high school as he does not have the basic understanding of this economy.
SP4 is one of the most brainwashed individuals ever with his undying love of Bush and his policies. Don't the blinders hurt?
SP4-P;ease read--The Bush/Cheney mis-administration, rubber stamped by the GOP, the RNC and all of it's minions, and the brown shirt poodle journalists are all responsible for their 57% increase in the National Debt. In 2006 the interests payment on that debt was over $800,000,000,000 and this year it will be higher. Our N.D. is over 9 trillion dollars and climbing. With a population over 303 million, the share of the N.D. for each man, woman, and child is over $30,000. Will you pay up or will you have the children and grand children pay up? The economy has been bought by the irresponsible act of borrowing and giving the major tax cut to the richest. Also read 'The 12 Year Reich' by Richard Grunberger and articles by Victor Klemperer. Google 'the 14 points of fascism' and 'Fascism Anyone' by Dr. Lawrence Britt. Have a good day!
SP4 said 'Tax REVENUE pays for services' - indeed it does, but just look around and compare with other countries what you get with the money - a pretty rotten deal. Where is the tax revenue being wasted ?
The rich have more privileges, unequaled justice, better health care, greater power and influence, which far outpace any other group in America.
Warren Buffett is a product of the billionaire class. Therefore, we must take the good with the bad. At least he is a genuine philanthropist.
The bad: He invests in PetroChina Company Limited with its link to Sudan through parent company CNPC.
The good: in its current form, the estate tax only affects the wealthiest 2% of all Americans. Therefore, Mr. Buffett makes a fine point in stating that he does not want to abolish this tax.
THe equations SP4 uses are mindboggling in their contradictions ;less taxes equal more revenues ,he says .Never hindered by the most blatant contradictions in logics,are you SP4 ?At least Warren BUffet is more decent than the average republican .He admits to paying less taxes and still you try to twist his own confession into a silly logic to defend Bush and the GOP.How stupid can you be ?Except for yourself the world is seeing the simpe facts .But the rats are leaving the sinking ship now,SP4.I just read that it is not a compliment for neocons to be labeled neocons anymore.They now say it is an anti-semitic insult,a racist label ,what a joke those guys are .They claim back their virginity after whoring with the corporate bosses for a decade.
it does not pay to say anything to sp4.
as he seems to be madly in love with bush..
SP4 IS Bush!!
Does that make wrong though, does it?
The facts abut lower taxes and higher revenue have proven true, and this isn't some king of global warming shell game, we REALLY are $36 billion over projections fo 6 years!
Bush may be an ass, but he wasn't wrong.
By the way, isn't it interesting Buffet came to this conclusion at the END of his life!?
Maybe he feels that after this Presidency, the people are definitely in dire need of all the help they can get!!
Buffet came to the conclusion at the end of his life because ....in the middle of his life there was no Bush president to lower the tax for the wealthiest americans ;You might have discovered that yourself if you would use your brain SP4.Still awaiting an explanation how tax reduction for the rich yields a higher income for the state .Somehow illogical and contrary to simple mathematics ,unless ....you make the rest of the population pay more taxes...unless divine intervention,perhaps ???
When you are speaking of SP4, the statement 'You might have discovered that yourself if you would use your brain SP4.' does not apply. 'Brain' and 'SP4' in the same sentence is a misnomer. He is constantly wrong and feels the need make you think he is not wrong...all the time. Only problem is he is wrong most of the time.
But, Tonny, I'd rather HAVE a point of view than simply opine on others.
You want economic equality?
Go to a marxist nation.
Oooops! Let's look:
Korea: has rich folk, they just either wear a generals unifomr or their name is Kim.
China: Ooops! China actualy has royalty: Marxist monarchy! All the apparatachicks are related to the previous dickheads-in-charge.
Cuba: El Generalissimo runs a marxist dictatorship...but...HE owns numerous businesses! Go figure....
No, the free market system is the worst in the world...except for all the others.
Tonny, go read something .....written on paper.
One point here: who is considered rich?
Tonny spends most of his time lambasting me, mostly because he is short fact.
Fact: Bush DID lower taxes
Fact: Tax revenues are at record levels
Fact: Tax revenues are $36 billion ABOVE projected levels
Now, you can say anything about me you like i.e. neocon, collie molestor, etc., but that STILL does not make me wrong, does it?
Tax cuts generated record levels of revenue. It even helped states i.e. more investment and the subsequent taxes. Bush, undeniably, has a HUGE success here. As a real conservative, we just wished he'd cut spending.
That leads to the undeniable fact that Bush, at least in deeds, is not a real conservative. He may walk and talk like one, but he really is not.
Don't worry though, Dems are going to raise taxes! It's the only card in their playbook, and they'll play the old 'tax the rich' while the really rich wil shelter the income via democratic generated shelters.
God, it's like watching the Mikado: you KNOW how it ends, but you are required to watch each act...
...now that you are about to go to the big tax shelter in the sky, how come you waited soooo long to suddeny get tax religion????
I am confused. The statement made by Mr. Buffet, 'Buffett says he pays 18 percent of his salary to the IRS while the rest of his staff pays nearly twice that, 33 percent ....' This implies to the 'IRS', not including social insecurity. If I look up the 2006 IRS tax schedule, the 33% tax bracket does not hit until an indiviual reaches a TAXABLE income of $154,800, and a married couple reaches $188,450. This is taxable income, income after standard deductions and such. The top rate is 35%. That rate only applies to income over $336,550 for both single and married couple.
Lets look at a single person paying IRS income tax. A simple mathematical equation to express 33% of a persons income would look like this.
X = Total income
33% of X would look like .33X. (Roughly)
From the Buffet statement, the IRS tax schedule, and simple math,
.33X = $97,653 + .35(X - $336,550)
.33X = $97,653 + .35X - .35(336,550)
.33X = .35X + $97,653 - $117,792
-.02X = -$20139
.02X = $20,139
X = $20,139 / .02
X = $1,006,975
I would have to say that Mr, Buffet pays his secretary quite well. I would also have to say that Mr. Buffet has a pretty high standard for 'middle income.' Honestly, I would like to make over a millon dollars a year and only take home $666,667 after IRS taxes. If I made over a million dollars a year, I think I could find a few places to 'invest' the money so as to not pay so much in taxes. This would then drive down the percentage of my income tax rate even further. His statement just does not make sense.
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SherNov 17th, 2007 - 21:23:01
Mr. Buffet is a very intelligent man who would have been great in government!
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