UltimateHoboW/Shotgun
04-11-2012, 10:04 PM
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/buffett-rules-billionaire-backers-meet-155521680.html
On Tuesday afternoon President Obama took a break from fundraising in Florida to make his pitch for the 'Buffett Rule', a proposal that would see the country's wealthiest pay at least 30% of their income in taxes.
The legislation is named after America's second richest person, maverick investor Warren Buffett, who has long complained that he and his fellow billionaires and millionaires are paying a far lower tax rate than the average middle-class family.
"Right now, the share of our national income flowing to the top 1% has climbed to levels last seen in the 1920s," Obama told a cheering chorus of Florida Atlantic University students in Boca Raton, Fla. "And yet those same people are also paying taxes at one of the lowest rates in 50 years. You might have heard this, but Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary."
[Related: Obama's Buffett Rule]
"That’s wrong," he said. "It isn’t fair. And it’s time for us to choose which direction we want to go in as a country. Do we want to keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates – people who don’t need them and never asked for them? Or do we want to keep investing in things that will grow our economy and keep us secure? That’s the choice."
As you might imagine, the Buffett Rule has had a mixed reception among the Forbes 400, many of whom are just fine with an average tax rate of 18%, thank you very much. Last week, media mogul Barry Diller called Buffett's tax dictum "irrelevant" during a radio interview.
Then there are the Koch brothers, the ultimate free-market, flat-tax champions; Charles Koch came out against Buffett last year, saying his investments do more good for society than more taxes would.
Forbes columnist and investment guru Ken Fisher strongly opposes the plan, as he explained last year in a magazine interview. "My advice to Mr. Buffett is to stick to what he does best," said the billionaire. "If you took a vote of the Forbes 400 I am pretty sure they'd say no to raising taxes on cap gains."
[Related: Gadgets for the 1%]
Well, there are a handful of billionaires who are on board with the Buffett Rule, and have come out publicly to say so. One of the most outspoken advocates of raising taxes on the rich: Buffett's friend and the only American with more money in the bank, Bill Gates.
In fact, Gates' father was the public face of Washington State's ballot initiative 1098, which would have slapped a 5% tax on income over $400,000 per couple and a 9% levy on income over $1 million. It ultimately failed, but Gates remains a proponent of higher taxes for the rich, telling the BBC in January that it's "just justice" for him and his fellow billionaires to pay a greater percentage to the state.
Gates and Buffett are joined by a roster of Forbes billionaires in support of the proposal, including private equity giants, an arts donor and a sports team owner.
Warren Buffett
APBillionaire investor Warren Buffett wants to pay more taxes, saying the 11% effective rate he pays is far lower than that paid by his secretary. The 'Buffett Rule' proposal is named after the Oracle of Omaha, America's second richest person.
Bill Gates
Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesMicrosoft tycoon Bill Gates is a longtime friend of Buffett's -- they originated the Giving Pledge together, enlisting other billionaires to agree to give the bulk of their wealth to charity during their lifetime. Gates has also come out in support of higher taxes for the very wealthy, saying it'd be "just justice" for him to pay more.
Eli Broad
AP Photo/Jae C. HongBillionaire arts philanthropist Eli Broad told Forbes last year that he backs the Buffett Rule. "Those of us who have gained great success have an obligation to pay more taxes," he said. "We've been coddled long enough and have tax breaks that 99.9% of the public don't have, and it's not fair."
Michael Bloomberg
APNew York's billionaire "Mayor Mike" has said that raising taxes is only fair -- and not just for the super-rich, but for everyone, depending on income levels. "Everybody’s in this country together," he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in November. “Everybody pays taxes. We have a graduated income tax so those that have more, pay more as a percentage…[those who pay] all benefit and should understand it’s their money [too].”
Mark Cuban
Ann Summa/Getty ImagesDallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gives the Buffett Rule a "resounding yes", according to an interview with Salon.com in October. He took part in the website's Patriotic Billionaire Challenge and was one of eight Forbes 400 members to respond positively to Salon's questions.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45889
Warren Buffett, President Obama’s pet billionaire, spends a great deal of time calling for tax increases on wealthy people. He began a recent New York Times op-ed, entitled “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” as follows:
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
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.
That’s right, serfs: anything your benevolent “leaders” in Washington allow you to keep is a “blessing” that has been “showered” upon you. All money rightfully belongs to the State. It’s about time you spotted owls got with the program.
Funny thing is, it turns out Buffett was being… shall we say… disingenuous when he claimed his “leaders” never got around to asking for his “shared sacrifice.” His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has been fighting the IRS tooth and nail to avoid paying its federal tax bill for nearly a decade.
How much of the State’s rightful money has this hypocrite been clutching in a white-knuckled death grip? Oh, only about a billion dollars or so. Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government tallies up the bill:
Using only publicly-available documents, a certified public accountant (CPA) detailed Berkshire Hathaway’s tax problems to ALG researcher Richard McCarty. Now, the American people have a better idea of how much in back taxes the company could owe Uncle Sam.
According to page 56 of the company report, “At December 31, 2010… net unrecognized tax benefits were $1,005 million”, or about $1 billion. McCarty explained, “Unrecognized tax benefits represent the company’s potential future obligation to the IRS and other taxing authorities. They have to be recorded in the company’s financial statements.”
He added, “The notation means that Berkshire Hathaway’s own auditors have probably said that $1 billion is more likely than not owed to the government.”
On top of this tax bill, figure the value of the time IRS agents have invested trying to collect it – they don’t work cheap, and we pay their salaries – and the resources Buffett’s people have invested fighting back. All of which would have been saved if Buffett simply practiced what he preached, and willingly handed over his fortune to the brilliant and compassionate “leaders” he commands the rest of us to support without resistance.
Warren Buffet is no different from the other liars and frauds orbiting Barack Obama. His hypocrisy just runs billions of dollars deeper. When it comes to “shared sacrifice,” you do the sacrificing, and they do the sharing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-hathaway_n_941099.html
A little over two weeks ago, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, the third-richest person in the world, penned an op-ed critical of the low tax rates for the superrich. It would seem his own company hasn't prioritized paying its rightful share in a timely fashion either.
Berkshire Hathaway, the eighth-largest public company in the world according to Forbes, openly admits to still owing taxes for years 2002 through 2004 and 2005 through 2009, according to the New York Post. The company says it expects to "resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service" within the next year.
But The Post doesn't focus on the issue of a major corporation not paying its correct amount in taxes in a timely manner. Instead, the newspaper criticizes Buffett's position that America's rich should be taxed at a higher rate, taking issue with Buffett's claim that he gave 17 percent of his income to the government in 2010. The Post contends that since the majority of his income comes from dividends and capital games -- taxed indirectly through the corporate income tax -- "his effective rate would really be well north of 40 percent for a big chunk of his income."
"And if [Buffett's] firm wants to keep its tax bill low, well, that’s its right," The Post editors write. "But it would be nice if this 'pro-tax-hike' tycoon were a bit more honest about it."
This isn't the first conservative criticism of Buffett since his Op-Ed. Jon Stewart recently singled out one Fox News commentator who asked if Buffett was "completely a socialist?" Yes, the same man who last week dreamt up a $5 billion BofA deal in the bathtub
What The Post hence assumes is that Berkshire Hathaway pays taxes at the top marginal rate of 35 percent. The corporation's effective tax rate was last put at 29 percent, according to Forbes. More generally, due to a variety of breaks and loopholes, many U.S. corporations don't pay the top marginal rate. Over one-fourth of the U.S. corporations comprising the S&P 500 paid a corporate tax rate below 20 percent over the last half-decade, The New York Times recently reported.
At a minimum, "United States corporations pay only slightly more on average than their counterparts in other industrial countries," according to The New York Times. Indeed, corporate tax revenues are now nearing historic lows as a percentage of GDP.
Even historically, corporate tax rates and capital gains are low. From the 1950s to mid-1980s, the top marginal corporate tax rate hovered around 50 percent, according to Visualizing Economics. The capital gains tax, lowered to 15 percent in 2003, previously hadn't been that low since the Great Depression.
It's not only rich corporations that are legally able to avoid paying taxes either. Some 1,400 millionaires paid no income taxes whatsoever in 2009, according to tax data from the Internal Revenue Service.
On Tuesday afternoon President Obama took a break from fundraising in Florida to make his pitch for the 'Buffett Rule', a proposal that would see the country's wealthiest pay at least 30% of their income in taxes.
The legislation is named after America's second richest person, maverick investor Warren Buffett, who has long complained that he and his fellow billionaires and millionaires are paying a far lower tax rate than the average middle-class family.
"Right now, the share of our national income flowing to the top 1% has climbed to levels last seen in the 1920s," Obama told a cheering chorus of Florida Atlantic University students in Boca Raton, Fla. "And yet those same people are also paying taxes at one of the lowest rates in 50 years. You might have heard this, but Warren Buffett is paying a lower tax rate than his secretary."
[Related: Obama's Buffett Rule]
"That’s wrong," he said. "It isn’t fair. And it’s time for us to choose which direction we want to go in as a country. Do we want to keep giving tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans like me, or Warren Buffett, or Bill Gates – people who don’t need them and never asked for them? Or do we want to keep investing in things that will grow our economy and keep us secure? That’s the choice."
As you might imagine, the Buffett Rule has had a mixed reception among the Forbes 400, many of whom are just fine with an average tax rate of 18%, thank you very much. Last week, media mogul Barry Diller called Buffett's tax dictum "irrelevant" during a radio interview.
Then there are the Koch brothers, the ultimate free-market, flat-tax champions; Charles Koch came out against Buffett last year, saying his investments do more good for society than more taxes would.
Forbes columnist and investment guru Ken Fisher strongly opposes the plan, as he explained last year in a magazine interview. "My advice to Mr. Buffett is to stick to what he does best," said the billionaire. "If you took a vote of the Forbes 400 I am pretty sure they'd say no to raising taxes on cap gains."
[Related: Gadgets for the 1%]
Well, there are a handful of billionaires who are on board with the Buffett Rule, and have come out publicly to say so. One of the most outspoken advocates of raising taxes on the rich: Buffett's friend and the only American with more money in the bank, Bill Gates.
In fact, Gates' father was the public face of Washington State's ballot initiative 1098, which would have slapped a 5% tax on income over $400,000 per couple and a 9% levy on income over $1 million. It ultimately failed, but Gates remains a proponent of higher taxes for the rich, telling the BBC in January that it's "just justice" for him and his fellow billionaires to pay a greater percentage to the state.
Gates and Buffett are joined by a roster of Forbes billionaires in support of the proposal, including private equity giants, an arts donor and a sports team owner.
Warren Buffett
APBillionaire investor Warren Buffett wants to pay more taxes, saying the 11% effective rate he pays is far lower than that paid by his secretary. The 'Buffett Rule' proposal is named after the Oracle of Omaha, America's second richest person.
Bill Gates
Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty ImagesMicrosoft tycoon Bill Gates is a longtime friend of Buffett's -- they originated the Giving Pledge together, enlisting other billionaires to agree to give the bulk of their wealth to charity during their lifetime. Gates has also come out in support of higher taxes for the very wealthy, saying it'd be "just justice" for him to pay more.
Eli Broad
AP Photo/Jae C. HongBillionaire arts philanthropist Eli Broad told Forbes last year that he backs the Buffett Rule. "Those of us who have gained great success have an obligation to pay more taxes," he said. "We've been coddled long enough and have tax breaks that 99.9% of the public don't have, and it's not fair."
Michael Bloomberg
APNew York's billionaire "Mayor Mike" has said that raising taxes is only fair -- and not just for the super-rich, but for everyone, depending on income levels. "Everybody’s in this country together," he said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe in November. “Everybody pays taxes. We have a graduated income tax so those that have more, pay more as a percentage…[those who pay] all benefit and should understand it’s their money [too].”
Mark Cuban
Ann Summa/Getty ImagesDallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban gives the Buffett Rule a "resounding yes", according to an interview with Salon.com in October. He took part in the website's Patriotic Billionaire Challenge and was one of eight Forbes 400 members to respond positively to Salon's questions.
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45889
Warren Buffett, President Obama’s pet billionaire, spends a great deal of time calling for tax increases on wealthy people. He began a recent New York Times op-ed, entitled “Stop Coddling the Super-Rich,” as follows:
OUR leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched.
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.
That’s right, serfs: anything your benevolent “leaders” in Washington allow you to keep is a “blessing” that has been “showered” upon you. All money rightfully belongs to the State. It’s about time you spotted owls got with the program.
Funny thing is, it turns out Buffett was being… shall we say… disingenuous when he claimed his “leaders” never got around to asking for his “shared sacrifice.” His company, Berkshire Hathaway, has been fighting the IRS tooth and nail to avoid paying its federal tax bill for nearly a decade.
How much of the State’s rightful money has this hypocrite been clutching in a white-knuckled death grip? Oh, only about a billion dollars or so. Bill Wilson of Americans for Limited Government tallies up the bill:
Using only publicly-available documents, a certified public accountant (CPA) detailed Berkshire Hathaway’s tax problems to ALG researcher Richard McCarty. Now, the American people have a better idea of how much in back taxes the company could owe Uncle Sam.
According to page 56 of the company report, “At December 31, 2010… net unrecognized tax benefits were $1,005 million”, or about $1 billion. McCarty explained, “Unrecognized tax benefits represent the company’s potential future obligation to the IRS and other taxing authorities. They have to be recorded in the company’s financial statements.”
He added, “The notation means that Berkshire Hathaway’s own auditors have probably said that $1 billion is more likely than not owed to the government.”
On top of this tax bill, figure the value of the time IRS agents have invested trying to collect it – they don’t work cheap, and we pay their salaries – and the resources Buffett’s people have invested fighting back. All of which would have been saved if Buffett simply practiced what he preached, and willingly handed over his fortune to the brilliant and compassionate “leaders” he commands the rest of us to support without resistance.
Warren Buffet is no different from the other liars and frauds orbiting Barack Obama. His hypocrisy just runs billions of dollars deeper. When it comes to “shared sacrifice,” you do the sacrificing, and they do the sharing.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/warren-buffett-taxes-berkshire-hathaway_n_941099.html
A little over two weeks ago, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, the third-richest person in the world, penned an op-ed critical of the low tax rates for the superrich. It would seem his own company hasn't prioritized paying its rightful share in a timely fashion either.
Berkshire Hathaway, the eighth-largest public company in the world according to Forbes, openly admits to still owing taxes for years 2002 through 2004 and 2005 through 2009, according to the New York Post. The company says it expects to "resolve all adjustments proposed by the US Internal Revenue Service" within the next year.
But The Post doesn't focus on the issue of a major corporation not paying its correct amount in taxes in a timely manner. Instead, the newspaper criticizes Buffett's position that America's rich should be taxed at a higher rate, taking issue with Buffett's claim that he gave 17 percent of his income to the government in 2010. The Post contends that since the majority of his income comes from dividends and capital games -- taxed indirectly through the corporate income tax -- "his effective rate would really be well north of 40 percent for a big chunk of his income."
"And if [Buffett's] firm wants to keep its tax bill low, well, that’s its right," The Post editors write. "But it would be nice if this 'pro-tax-hike' tycoon were a bit more honest about it."
This isn't the first conservative criticism of Buffett since his Op-Ed. Jon Stewart recently singled out one Fox News commentator who asked if Buffett was "completely a socialist?" Yes, the same man who last week dreamt up a $5 billion BofA deal in the bathtub
What The Post hence assumes is that Berkshire Hathaway pays taxes at the top marginal rate of 35 percent. The corporation's effective tax rate was last put at 29 percent, according to Forbes. More generally, due to a variety of breaks and loopholes, many U.S. corporations don't pay the top marginal rate. Over one-fourth of the U.S. corporations comprising the S&P 500 paid a corporate tax rate below 20 percent over the last half-decade, The New York Times recently reported.
At a minimum, "United States corporations pay only slightly more on average than their counterparts in other industrial countries," according to The New York Times. Indeed, corporate tax revenues are now nearing historic lows as a percentage of GDP.
Even historically, corporate tax rates and capital gains are low. From the 1950s to mid-1980s, the top marginal corporate tax rate hovered around 50 percent, according to Visualizing Economics. The capital gains tax, lowered to 15 percent in 2003, previously hadn't been that low since the Great Depression.
It's not only rich corporations that are legally able to avoid paying taxes either. Some 1,400 millionaires paid no income taxes whatsoever in 2009, according to tax data from the Internal Revenue Service.