The self-righteous SOB is welcome to pay all he wants, just leave us out of it, Warren Buffett Tells ABC Rich People Should Pay More in Taxes

Warren Buffett is like John McCain, he sucks up to the press so they will not scrutinize the hypocrisy of his actions too closely.

Full of Something

“The Giving Pledge is the brainchild of billionaire businessmen Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The two of them have teamed up to ask the world’s wealthiest people to donate at least 50% of their fortunes to charities. They believe that the richest people in the world can eradicate many of the world’s problems through philanthropy. The pledge is not a binding contract but more of a “moral commitment”. Individuals are free to donate money to whatever cause they would like. So, far about 40 billionaires have accepted the giving pledge challenge. That’s not a large number when you consider that there are nearly 1,000 billionaires in the world, according to Forbes. So, who hasn’t signed up and for what reason? “

Gates and Buffett will not give away ONE DIME.

Instead, they will put all of their billions into foundations they and their heirs control, to lobby for things THEY believe in, at everyone else’s expense.

Also, they are both HUGE proponents of letting the estate-tax cut expire, because then, when small businessmen die, their heirs will have to sell their companies, at a huge discount, to pay the estate tax.

And who will buy these companies at a huge discount?

Uh-huh, people like Buffett and Gates. Screw them.

Also, it is turning the concept of (Christian) charity on its head - proclaim your “giving” as loudly and ostentatiously as you can, and bullyrag others to do do likewise;

“Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Matt 6:5,Matt 6:16,Matt 23:5

Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. Luke 6:24

But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly. Jer 17:10, Matt 6:6, Matt 6:18″

(Thanks to my wife for bringing this to my attention)

Billionaires Who Havent Taken The Pledge.

Warren Buffett Tells ABC Rich People Should Pay More in Taxes - Bloomberg

Billionaire Warren Buffett said that rich people should pay more in taxes and that Bush-era tax cuts for top earners should be allowed to expire at the end of December.

“If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett said in an interview with ABC’s “This Week With Christiane Amanpour” that is scheduled to air on Nov. 28. “But I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”

“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you,” Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., said. “But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.”

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Ann Hughey at ahughey@bloomberg.net

FLASHBACK TO HYPOCRISY

June 27, 2007

Warren Buffet Pays 17.7% Tax Rate; His Employees Pay 32.9%

Interesting report from the Hillary Clinton fundraiser last night: Warren Buffet complained that he paid a 17.7% tax rate on his $46 million of taxable income in 2006, while his employees paid an average 32.9% tax rate (his receptionist's tax rate was 30%).

Update: For additional commentary, see

• Citizens for Tax Justice, Buffett: The Rich Pay Too Little
• CNN: Buffet Talks Tax Reform with Sen. Clinton
• Mankiw's Blog, Mr. Buffett's Tax Bill
• Times On Line: Buffett Blasts System that Lets Him Pay Less Tax Than Secretary

November 4, 2009

Warren Buffett: Tax Hypocrite?

Future of Capitalism, Warren Buffett's Tax Hypocrisy:

When Warren Buffett criticized President Bush's tax cuts while plumping for the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, he garnered prominent, adulatory headlines ... Consider that as the context for two pieces of information:

First, the observation, amid a column in today's Wall Street Journal, about Berkshire Hathaway's cash mountain: "Mr. Buffett would rather not resort to the simplest way of solving this problem -- paying excess cash out to shareholders in the form of a dividend. Since he owns roughly 26% of Berkshire's shares, a cash dividend would saddle Mr. Buffett with one of the largest personal-income tax bills in American history. That's not the kind of thing at which he likes to excel. Mr. Buffett's reluctance to pay a dividend leaves him with little choice but to buy big companies outright."

Second, the news (again, from the Wall Street Journal) that Mr. Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway is joining in a bid to buy $3 billion in tax credits from Fannie Mae. Reports the Journal: "The credits are virtually worthless to Fannie Mae and require the company to take losses each quarter as their value declines. Companies such as Berkshire Hathaway and Goldman Sachs could use them to offset federal tax expenses."

Neither Journal article places the news in the context of Mr. Buffett's stated support for higher taxes.

Prior TaxProf Blog coverage:

• Warren Buffett Pays 17.7% Tax Rate; His Employees Pay 32.9% (June 27, 2007)
• Democratic Presidential Candidates Debate Warren Buffett's Tax Rate (July 2, 2007)
• Warren Buffett: Estate Tax Hypocrite? (Nov. 12, 2008)

Update: Business Week, Thinking Like Warren Buffett: "For all his skill at picking stocks, the Oracle of Omaha's approach to taxes is even more astute, as the P&G-Gillette deal proves."