Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
WASHINGTON -- Billionaire investor Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on wealthier Americans to cut Washington's huge budget deficit, saying the move would not dampen investments or jobs.
http://www.commondreams.org/sites/co...-buffett_0.jpg Billionaire investor Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on wealthier Americans to cut Washington's huge budget deficit, saying the move would not dampen investments or jobs. (Rick Wilking/Reuters)
In a New York Times opinion article, the chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway proposed a tax increase on Americans who make at least $1 million per year and an additional increase on those making $10 million or more.
"Our leaders have asked for 'shared sacrifice.' But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched," Buffett wrote.
"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."
The man known as the "Oracle of Omaha" said his federal tax rate was 17.4 percent last year, while some investment managers were taxed just 15 percent on income reaching into the billions. He then noted that the middle class is taxed up to 25 percent in its income bracket, along with "heavy" payroll taxes.
In contrast, Buffett recalled "far higher" taxes rates for the rich in the 1980s and 1990s, and yet nearly 40 million jobs were added from 1980 to 2000.
"You know what's happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation," he said.
"People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off."
Americans are losing faith with Congress's ability to tackle the country's financial woes, Buffett warned, calling for "immediate, real and very substantial" action.
A protracted partisan battle between lawmakers culminated in a last-minute deal on August 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion US debt ceiling and narrowly avoid a US default.
"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress," he added. "It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
No one is stopping him from paying extra taxes if he'd wish. His line is just a bunch of bullshit, wanna pay more taxes? Write the check douche-bag.
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Faldur
No one is stopping him from paying extra taxes if he'd wish. His line is just a bunch of bullshit, wanna pay more taxes? Write the check douche-bag.
Y u mad for lol. I have always found it odd that Buffet donated only to the democrats and Bill Gates donated more money to the democrats. While every other rich person in Forbes Top 10 was a republican.
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
The point isn't that the hyperrich can pay more taxes if they want to; the point is that they should pay more taxes than law currently requires. To restore fiscal responsibility we need to finally end the Bush Give-Away and return to the level of taxation we had in the Reagan and Clinton years. Stop being pawns. Dump the tea already. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Faldur
No one is stopping him from paying extra taxes if he'd wish. His line is just a bunch of bullshit, wanna pay more taxes? Write the check douche-bag.
Pat Buchanan agrees with you:
Warren Buffet: "Tax the rich" Pat Buchanan: "Put up or shut up" - YouTube
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Faldur
No one is stopping him from paying extra taxes if he'd wish. His line is just a bunch of bullshit, wanna pay more taxes? Write the check douche-bag.
Tell me: who has to say that the "Job Creators" should pay more taxes for the Right to listen? I mean, Buffetts' "only" the THIRD RICHEST man IN THE WORLD, so what would HE know about creating jobs...
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
LMFAO....Buffet uses the loop holes in the tax code then cries about it. Beat me more Mr. President...please! What a phoney!! His taxes are on capitol gains...not income like you and I make. That is taxed at a lower rate. He could very well choose as head of his company to take a salary, and then pay taxes on that which is a higher rate.....so his cries ring hollow for me. And didn't he just pledge his fortune to Bill Gate's Foundation....to avoid the death tax? Please...........That's Trish's favorite tax...The Death Tax.
How about some definitions here...That's precisely the problem with the tax the rich cries from Buffet and the left. In Obama's world he talks about "millionaires and billionaires" and "corporate jet owners" , but what he proposes is something far different than that. His threshold is 250K...that's not a millionaire by a long shot. Perhaps if his plan matched his rhetoric, he'd have a case. So just what is "rich" ? In the liberal view, a doctor and a school teacher filing as married would be considered "rich".
I'm not opposed to guys like Buffet paying more taxes, but as NJ found out by instituting it's "millionaires tax"...revenues actually decreased.
Re: Buffett: Tax Me and My Mega-Rich Friends
Quote:
Originally Posted by
onmyknees
LMFAO....Buffet uses the loop holes in the tax code then cries about it. Beat me more Mr. President...please! What a phoney!! His taxes are on capitol gains...not income like you and I make. That is taxed at a lower rate. He could very well choose as head of his company to take a salary, and then pay taxes on that which is a higher rate.....so his cries ring hollow for me. And didn't he just pledge his fortune to Bill Gate's Foundation....to avoid the death tax? Please...........That's Trish's favorite tax...The Death Tax.
How about some definitions here...That's precisely the problem with the tax the rich cries from Buffet and the left. In Obama's world he talks about "millionaires and billionaires" and "corporate jet owners" , but what he proposes is something far different than that. His threshold is 250K...that's not a millionaire by a long shot. Perhaps if his plan matched his rhetoric, he'd have a case. So just what is "rich" ? In the liberal view, a doctor and a school teacher filing as married would be considered "rich".
I'm not opposed to guys like Buffet paying more taxes, but as NJ found out by instituting it's "millionaires tax"...revenues actually decreased.
Obama's call to tax the weathy, is defined by the current tax codes, which puts all individuals making over $200,000, and families making over $250,000 into the same bracket. I doubt that Obama would be against making a separate bracket for incomes above 1 million. And that 'liberals' have a common view of what defines 'rich' is distorted thinking. But there are ways to make definitions of 'rich' from a broad concensus. One example would be to set a higher rate, based on the lowest income, for the top 2% of all tax payers.
What is your source for saying that the "millionaires tax" in New Jersey , caused revenues to decreased?
Meanwhile, a study by the Rockefeller Institute of Government found that millionaire taxes had positive impacts on several states. In the first quarter of 2010, California, New York, Hawaii and New Jersey all saw increases in tax revenue over the same period in 2009 after they instituted the tax, again suggesting that the tax’s effect on out-migration was negligible.
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/20...llionaire-tax/
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Faldur
No one is stopping him from paying extra taxes if he'd wish. His line is just a bunch of bullshit, wanna pay more taxes? Write the check douche-bag.
The issue with your post is that the article attributes many factual quotes from Buffet. You do not dispute any specific facts, however calling his statement "bullshit" implies that his facts are wrong. Tell me which of his facts are wrong.