Billionaire Warren Buffett might have a chilly reception at the country club this week, as the well-known investor has now voiced his support for greater taxes for the richest Americans in an opinion piece in the New York Times titled "Stop Coddling The Super Rich":
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. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.
These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.He goes on to break down exactly what he paid in taxes last year, clearly illustrating that he pays a lower percentage in taxes than most Americans. It's a great read and you should click over to it. He's clearly a smart man with some great ideas (hmm, Buffett for Prez?).
It's about time that at least one member of America's elite stops being so damned irresponsible and advocates shouldering the same burden we all have to carry.
I'm not the only one pleased with Buffett's honesty, as President Barack Obama mentioned Buffett during his a town hall meeting in Minnesota:
On the same day it was published, Buffett's op-ed became an applause line for President Obama, who used it to hammer home his call for higher taxes on the rich.
"You're paying more than that," Obama told the crowd at a town hall meeting in Minnesota. "And -- now I may be wrong, but I think you're a little less wealthy than Warren Buffett. That's just a guess."Thank you, Warren Buffett.
