Buffett's Income

[Groty]

At Hillary's fundraiser in NYC this week, Buffett talked about how inequities in the tax code favor those with high incomes. To illustrate, he said his federal tax rate (which is both income taxes and payroll taxes) was around 17% on income of $46 million during 2006. Yet, those with far lower incomes who are employed as staff at Berkshire's headquarters had a tax rate of over 30%. I was surprised by the $46 million income figure.

He has paid himself $100,000 per year at Berkshire for a number of years and never taken a bonus. I was under the impression that when he dissolved the investment partnerhip he rolled all of his net worth, excluding his home, into Berkshire. I was also under the impression he had never sold a share of Berkshire. One of those is apparently wrong, since it takes a sizeable chunk of assets to generate an income of $46 million.

So what are the assets outside of Berkshire he owns that generated an income of $46 million last year? Did he at one point sell some Berkshire stock and put the proceeds into income generating assets like bonds?