It was heartening to see Warren Buffet weighing in behind the President of the United States stating he sees no reason why the very wealthy should be so coddled in tax percentage terms.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...s-to-raise-taxes-on-coddled-billionaires.html
“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) wrote in an opinion article published in the New York Times. “It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”
Buffett’s advocacy of higher taxes for the “mega-rich” may reinforce President Barack Obama’s call for an end to tax breaks for corporate-jet owners. In the op-ed, the 80-year-old investor said his federal tax bill last year, or the income tax he paid and payroll taxes paid by him and on his behalf, was $6,938,744.
“That sounds like a lot of money,” Buffett wrote. “But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income -- and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.”
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Buffett said the notion that high taxes discourage hiring and investment is false.
“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone -- not even when [broken link removed] rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 -- shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain,” he said.
“People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off,” he said. “And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”
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Its refreshing to see someone who's done it all debunk the monetarist theorizing by captains of industry.
ONQ.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-...s-to-raise-taxes-on-coddled-billionaires.html
“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK/A) wrote in an opinion article published in the New York Times. “It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”
Buffett’s advocacy of higher taxes for the “mega-rich” may reinforce President Barack Obama’s call for an end to tax breaks for corporate-jet owners. In the op-ed, the 80-year-old investor said his federal tax bill last year, or the income tax he paid and payroll taxes paid by him and on his behalf, was $6,938,744.
“That sounds like a lot of money,” Buffett wrote. “But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income -- and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.”
----------------------------
Buffett said the notion that high taxes discourage hiring and investment is false.
“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone -- not even when [broken link removed] rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 -- shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain,” he said.
“People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off,” he said. “And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.”
----------------------------
Its refreshing to see someone who's done it all debunk the monetarist theorizing by captains of industry.
ONQ.