Buffett: Rich Should Pay More Taxes

The New York Times:

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.

Read the whole story: The New York Times

Comments

[duzacm]

06:47 PM on 08/28/2011

Buffet never mentioned billionaires . Humm,,could it be that he and George Soros pumped milliios into ''wonder bouy" election .And plan to do the same for his re=election ?

[JWF14]

11:36 PM on 08/23/2011

A suggestion to Buffet and other wealthy people who have come out saying they're ok paying more (there have been quite a few lately, including the President): How about you just pay more? Nobody is stopping you from paying more - the law sets minimums not maximums.
AND, make your payment public and transparent. You could all bond together, form an organization of millionaires and billionaires that are willing to, and DO, pay more taxes. You could all set rates for yourselves, according to what you think is fair, and just pay it. This would set an example for the country, and would draw a dividing line, a transparent dividing line, between those 'wealthy' who are willing to pay and those who are not. This publicity would be very positive for those willing to pay and negative for those who aren't. In time, media organizations could call out those wealthy who are not part of the organization, who are not on the list of those who DO pay appropriate taxes.
Can you see the future this could help lead to? It's not the poor and middle classes who are going to correct this flaw in the system, anymore than it was the poor or middle classes that wrote the declaration of independence. It's YOU, the rich, the wealthy, the powerful. It's up to you to make the change. If you do, we'll follow you.
Think about it. Then do it.

[jmaycock]

05:25 AM on 08/26/2011

Not good enough. It's up to politicians to make laws to ensure a fair society. Push through some tax hikes and start to beat back ridiculous GOP propaganda about class warfare. There is nothing fair about the current system.

[JewishPhysician]

08:56 AM on 08/23/2011

I hear that Bachmann and the tea party is clutching onto Mr. Buffett's message to disparage him by saying that now he should "write a check to the National Treasury" if he wants to increase taxes.
My message to her on this:
Warren need not write any checks. He is an American citizen and he speaks with alot of intelligence. This is not the way you do diplomacy by spiting a fellow who speaks his mind by telling him that he should simply fulfill your demands by "writing a check". That is not leading by example. He will be taxed as the rates increase. Be a patriot, not a scalawag.

[PRRA2000]

01:16 PM on 08/21/2011

Over the years Buffet has made a fortune in the market, though wise investments, but I’m sure his hands aren’t clean....inside trading and tax avoidance have probably helped. Why doesn’t he and the others, with tormented consciences just donate their entire fortunes to the government and shut up!
The loopholes will be closed.

[jmaycock]

05:27 AM on 08/26/2011

Why don't you do same?

Increase taxes now!

[jesternhell]

11:39 AM on 08/19/2011

hey warren why don't you ask your employees if they want you to write a bigger check to the government or give them a pay rise or pay for better health insurance or higher more employees.

[Toonguy]

12:27 PM on 08/19/2011

Do you think if Buffet brushes his teeth he will cure gingivitis? Neither will his making adjustments in his own business fix the tax inequalities he mentions in his article.

[jmaycock]

05:29 AM on 08/26/2011

Buffet is calling out the glaring mistake in the current tax code. Can't you see that? Or has fox news blinded you?

[Randybostonterrier]

06:03 AM on 08/19/2011

Mr. Buffet is right on. It's not that we bury the rich in taxes, it that we make them pay their fair share of taxes like all middle class working people do. It's called being fair.

[marijam]

11:41 AM on 08/17/2011

Do you know what communities are doing so that we don't end up looking like a third world "beggar" country? They are passing laws outlawing begging.

[marijam]

11:39 AM on 08/17/2011

They are not one iota patriotic and they certainly do not believe in America. If they did, they would be willing to pay their fair share so that America would not be falling so far behind the rest of the civilized world on infrastructure.

[olehippie]

09:44 AM on 08/17/2011

It must be "disappearing posts" Wednesday. Happy Disappearing Post Day Moderators.

[olehippie]

09:38 AM on 08/17/2011

test

[tribalogical]

03:54 PM on 08/20/2011

gotcha! :D

[Y3rMawm]

01:20 AM on 08/17/2011

As a recipient of TARP funds, Warren understands the benefits of taxation. His comments are those of an individual with a guilty conscience over wealth unearned.

Warren, you are free to write a check to the US Treasury, if you feel compelled to make up for any tax shortfall you have paid. It still won't make a dent in the deficits or the debt.

[pickles n pops]

02:52 AM on 08/17/2011

So are you.

[marijam]

11:44 AM on 08/17/2011

Nothing is stopping those job creators from creating jobs, either. So why aren't they? I think we've bribed them quite enough.

[frank1946]

11:14 PM on 08/16/2011

Warren is getting nervous about the Economy and how it affects his businesses !

Viola, Tax the Rich might help ?

When he was 40 he never would have suckered for this Pitch !

Being at Risk changes one's perspective !

[MyTake]

11:12 PM on 08/16/2011

Well, Sir, you and your MEGA rich friends should have bankrolled Rudi Giuliani to the Presidency in 2008.

When he got up on that Miami stage one evening, he was carrying a copy of that 4000+ page of the IRS Tax Code. He stated that if were to become President, he would strip that tax code down to a few pages.

Now that statement would have sent SHOCK WAVES through the high powered LAW FIRMS employed by your Mega Rich friends.

You see, Mr. Buffett, way back in 1913, three pieces of Rockefeller/JP Morgan bribed legislation passed in to law on December 24th.

A PRIVATE CENTRAL BANK, THE GRADUATED INCOME TAX ACT and THE FOUNDATION LAW went into operation and led directly to the DEVASTATION of the Nation as experienced today.

The Income Tax Act started out at just 2 pages denoting the personal and business Federal Income Tax rates. Now, after a century of assault from Corporate and Wealthy hired Law Firms, it has mushroomed too 4000+ pages of TAX AVOIDANCE SCAMS for those same entities.

There is a Senate record from the sixties when Nelson Rockefeller submitted a Federal Tax Return. It showed he paid a grand total of $650.oo in Federal Income Tax. Using Rockefeller Foundations, he shielded his entire yearly income from the Feds.

Sorry for the history lesson, Mr. Buffett. How much did you donate to The Gates Foundation!

[Toonguy]

08:52 AM on 08/17/2011

What Guiliani and Mr. Buffet are proposing are not the same thing. Guiliani's and similar propositions focus solely on payrole taxes which, as outlined in his article, wouldn't affect the majority of his income.

In fact, stripping everything from the tax code as Guiliani proposed would make taxes for the mega-wealthy even LOWER. Buffet wants the opposite.

[marijam]

11:48 AM on 08/17/2011

As if he wouldn't have a partisan Congress to contend with.

[duzacm]

05:21 PM on 08/16/2011

The man just loves to hear himself talk and bow down to our enemies . Sounds like he has an advanced case of Hubris Narcissism.
Jobs ? lol,,,Mr.president . Where were the ones you promised WHEN YOU WERE ELECTED PRESIDENT ?
"You can fool some of the people some of the time,but not all of the people all of the time." Abraham Lincolin

[Toonguy]

08:53 AM on 08/17/2011

This is about neither jobs nor the president. Talk about fools....

[jmaycock]

05:35 AM on 08/26/2011

Did you forget to read the article?

[Richard Genco]

03:56 PM on 08/16/2011

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2005/07/a-brief-guide-to-the-flat-tax Worth looking at

[Toonguy]

04:09 PM on 08/16/2011

Read the user guidelines regarding repetitive posts.

[Richard Genco]

04:34 PM on 08/16/2011

YOU MUST BELONG TO THE TEACHERS UNION!!!

[GarysDiscardedCaps]

08:27 PM on 08/16/2011

A flat tax is regressive. Puts the burden on the Poor and Middle Class and the Rich walk. Thanks for playing!

[Richard Genco]

08:48 PM on 08/16/2011

So you must like the system your playing in now? Must be in a union or going to a public school.