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Old 11-13-2007, 06:15 PM
spider spider is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Wash DC
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Default Re: Warren Buffet\'s Stance on Taxes

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Who pays what in taxes

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This doesn't include payroll (aka FICA, aka Social Security taxes) and the top marginal rates you cite are not applied to capital gains. For the really wealthy, capital gains are where the income is much moreso than wages.

You might want to read what Buffett is saying if you want to rebut it. His main point is that when adding payroll taxes to the income tax on wages, the marginal rate on someone making 50k is much higher than that of a wealthy person who is past the FICA limit (about 95k this year) and making a good bit of his/her money from capital gains (taxed at 15%, not 36%). There is also the issue about carried interest and stuff and whether it should be taxed normally (36%) or at CG rates (15%) but that's really a side issue to what Buffett is talking about.
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