Warren Buffet's Stance on Taxes

[CrushinFelt]

I'm sure it's been talked about here, but I don't think there was an official thread. To see what I'm references read this articles and the articles linked inside it:

Buffet Says the Rich aren't being taxed enough

My basic take on it is that Buffet is being a [censored] idiot. I will elaborate later, but I'd like to hear others' views.

[Orlando Salazar]

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I'm sure it's been talked about here, but I don't think there was an official thread. To see what I'm references read this articles and the articles linked inside it:

Buffet Says the Rich aren't being taxed enough

My basic take on it is that Buffet is being a [censored] idiot. I will elaborate later, but I'd like to hear others' views.

[/ QUOTE ]
Buffet is rich and doesn't care about his own tax (either way he is still a billionaire). But he pays an ETR of 17% because of dividend and other tax laws.
A moral person speaks up here. And no, he shouldn't just send an extra check cause the problem will only be 500million smaller.

[CrushinFelt]

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A moral person speaks up here.

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This makes me want to vomit.

No, it's worse than that. It actually pains me to read that.

Edit: I'm looking forward to hearing his testimony next week, and I hope his answer in no way resembles yours.

[maxtower]

I think most people would prefer if the rich at least paid the same taxes as the poor and middle class. There are a lot others who would be in favor of higher taxes on the rich than the poor.

I think corporations should pay higher taxes. I also think Warren should pay more taxes than I do. If I save an extra 1% of my salary, it will affect my life much more than if Warren saves.

[CrushinFelt]

I think you need to define "more". This thread is getting the responses I was expecting, and it's sad.

[ahnuld]

the rich should not have a lower percentage of their work taxed than the middle or poor.

[adios]

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I think most people would prefer if the rich at least paid the same taxes as the poor and middle class. There are a lot others who would be in favor of higher taxes on the rich than the poor.

I think corporations should pay higher taxes. I also think Warren should pay more taxes than I do. If I save an extra 1% of my salary, it will affect my life much more than if Warren saves.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where the heck did you get the idea that the middle class and the poor pay more taxes than the rich? Of course you don't define any of them i.e. what constitutes being rich, middle class and/or poor. According to the NTU the breakdown on who pays what in Federal income taxes is:

Who pays what in taxes

The top 1% of income earners pay 40% of the Federal income taxes levied against individuals. The top 50% pay 97%. IMO you might conclude that the upper middle class and the rich pay more than 50% of the Federal income tax. No way, no is it right that the poor and middle class are shouldering more of the tax burden than the wealthy.

[CrushinFelt]

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I think most people would prefer if the rich at least paid the same taxes as the poor and middle class. There are a lot others who would be in favor of higher taxes on the rich than the poor.

I think corporations should pay higher taxes. I also think Warren should pay more taxes than I do. If I save an extra 1% of my salary, it will affect my life much more than if Warren saves.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where the heck did you get the idea that the middle class and the poor pay more taxes than the rich? Of course you don't define any of them i.e. what constitutes being rich, middle class and/or poor. According to the NTU the breakdown on who pays what in Federal income taxes is:

Who pays what in taxes

The top 1% of income earners pay 40% of the Federal income taxes levied against individuals. The top 50% pay 97%. IMO you might conclude that the upper middle class and the rich pay more than 50% of the Federal income tax. No way, no is it right that the poor and middle class are shouldering more of the tax burden than the wealthy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Exactly the numbers people seem to skip over. That's why I told him he should define "more".

[spider]

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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.

[West]

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I think most people would prefer if the rich at least paid the same taxes as the poor and middle class. There are a lot others who would be in favor of higher taxes on the rich than the poor.

I think corporations should pay higher taxes. I also think Warren should pay more taxes than I do. If I save an extra 1% of my salary, it will affect my life much more than if Warren saves.



[/ QUOTE ]Where the heck did you get the idea that the middle class and the poor pay more taxes than the rich?

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How about from Warrren Buffett in the link in the OP? Did you read it?

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No way, no is it right that the poor and middle class are shouldering more of the tax burden than the wealthy.

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He is not talking in terms of absolute dollars, obviously.