Buffett: Stop coddling the super-rich

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html?_r=1&src=tp

<i>Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. 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.</i>

 

When is Warren going to propose a tax on wealth, instead of income?

That's where the money is, and he knows it.

And, if Government needs the money, and is such a good steward of it, why has he spent years planning his estate to make sure the Government doesn't get most of it?

 

Many of the big wheels are already eagerly paying a borderline version of a wealth tax with their substantial, focused charitable contributions.

I am fully, well-aware that is NOT the same thing . . . but I give kudos and credit to those who do it, as opposed to those who don't.

 

I think Buffet wrote this so he can reroute the pitchforks and torches to someone else's house.

 

Do you have a link to the flaw?

 

I think you also need to look at the cap on Social Security taxes. Someone making 250K/yr pays the same actual tax as someone making 105K/yr, but the effective rate is half as much.

 

I thought he only wrote about beach songs ...

 

Having stepped on a pop top, here's a rebuttal:

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/08/should-billionaires-pay-lower-taxes-than-you-do/243608/

 

It seems like he's suggesting an increase in capital gains -- he says he's including that in his total tax and he must be considering the rate he claims to pay. If that's the case, wouldn't that be a tax on wealth in a way since it's return on investment and investing requires pre-existing wealth?

 

Good god, the article has been out a few hours and he's had to update it twice. Give a thousand monkeys a thousand days and they could type something better.

Shit dude, just ask for the abolishment of sales tax while your at it, because you've already been taxed on that money you are spending as well!