Re: "I should pay more taxes" says Warren Buffett

On Oct 31, 5:48 am, "Joe S." <no_...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
"cal" <c...@xxxxx> wrote in message

news:4BUVi.392634$TR1.205760@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx





"Joe S." <no_...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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He must be -- according to the rightwingers -- some sort of wacked-out
commie-socialist-freak.

QUOTE

I should pay more tax, says US billionaire Warren Buffett

Andrew Clark in New York
Wednesday October 31, 2007
The Guardian

The United States' second-richest man has delivered a blunt message to
the Bush administration: he wants to pay more tax.
Warren Buffett, the famous investor known as the "Sage of Omaha", has
complained that he pays a lower rate of tax than any of his staff -
including his receptionist. Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52bn
(£25bn), said: "The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away
from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic; I don't think
it's appreciated and I think it should be addressed."

During an interview with NBC television, Mr Buffett brandished an
informal survey of 15 of his 18 office staff at his Berkshire Hathaway
empire. The billionaire said he was paying 17.7% payroll and income tax,
compared with an average in the office of 32.9%.
"There wasn't anyone in the office, from the receptionist up, who paid as
low a tax rate and I have no tax planning; I don't have an accountant or
use tax shelters. I just follow what the US Congress tells me to do," he
said.

Mr Buffett also took a pot shot at hedge fund managers. He said: "Hedge
fund operators have spent a record amount lobbying in the last few
months - they give money to the political campaigns. Who represents the
cleaning lady?"

His intervention comes amid an increasingly rancorous debate on Capitol
Hill about tax. Shortly after taking office, President Bush pushed
through $2 trillion in temporary tax cuts, including sharp reductions for
high-earners. These expire at the end of 2010 and the White House wants
to renew them.

A leading Democrat, the Harlem congressman Charlie Rangel, published
alternative plans this week that would impose a 4% surcharge on people
earning more than $200,000 a year, while delivering tax relief to 90
million working families.

Republicans say the net effect would be a $2 trillion tax increase that
would hurt small businesses and farmers. Meanwhile, Mr Buffett's remarks
drew a robust response from the US Chamber of Commerce, which said the
top 1% of US earners accounted for 39% of tax revenue - and the highest
earning 25% of the population delivered 86% of the tax-take.

The chamber's chief economist, Martin Regalia, said: "Mr Buffett has made
an awful lot of money and if he wants to pay more taxes, I think that's
fine. But I think he should get his facts straight."

He added: "There's no question in my mind: if you were to impose [the
Democrats'] tax increases, you would see the US go into a recession."

http://business.guardian.co.uk/story/0,,2202020,00.html

END QUOTE

1.) There's nothing preventing him from donating more (of his) money to
the U.S. treasury.

2.) Buffet pays more money in taxes than probably all of his staff
combined.

3.) The upper income earners have and probably always will pay the vast
majority of taxes that I.R.S. collects. Please don't make me break out
the pie charts.

The AMOUNT OF MONEY paid is irrelevant.

What is relevant is the PERCENTAGE OF AN INDIVIDUAL'S INCOME THAT IS BEING
PAID.

Buffet, by has own admission, was paying only 19 percent of his income while
his staff -- whose incomes are far less than his -- are paying over 30
percent.

Not that you can understand the difference.

Warren Buffet is good to use as an anecdote because virtually all of
his income is from capital gains. However, rather than anecdotes it
is far better to look at real statistics. The IRS publishes these
statistics every year. The figures are always about 1 1/2 year out of
date, so the latest are from 2005.

If you want percentages I can give you percentages.

Here are the numbers taken directly from the IRS tables for 2005
(updated Oct 2007):

top 1% 5% 10% 25%
50% Bottom
Percent of Income Taxes 39.38 59.67 70.30 85.99 96.94 3.07
Percent of Income 21.20 35.75 46.44 67.52 87.17
12.83

So, even though Buffet has a low tax rate, there are plenty
of other rich people to compensate for the low capital gains tax.

.

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