Buffett demands to pay more tax? An alternative view!

[FlyLie]

Warren Buffett demands to pay more tax
Mr Buffett said he had never known anyone to shy away from an investment because of high taxes .
Warren Buffett has called for Congress to make him and his "mega-rich friends" pay more income tax.
The billionaire investor and philanthropist said the rich should do more to help plug the deficit.
He called for a tax rise for those earning more than $1m (£600,000), and a higher rate for those on over $10m.
In a rebuttal of arguments made by Republicans, he said tax rises would not hurt investment or jobs in the US.
He told Congress to "stop coddling the super-rich".
"Our leaders have asked for 'shared sacrifice'," he wrote. "But when they did the asking, they spared me."
Challenge to Congress
Mr Buffett explained that, like many top earners, his income came entirely from investments rather than from employment, which are subject to lower taxes in the US.
He said last year he paid an effective tax rate of 17.4%, less than the 33% to 41% paid by the employees in his office.
He dismissed arguments made by senior Republicans, including John Boehner, speaker of the House of Representatives, that taxing higher earners more would damage investment and job creation in the US.
"I have yet to see anyone... shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gains," he said.
He pointed out that the effective tax rate paid by the highest earners was much higher in the 1980s and 1990s than in the last decade, and yet job creation was much higher in the earlier decades.
His proposed tax rises would not affect 99.7% of taxpayers, he claimed, adding that a 2% payroll tax cut passed in December should stay in place to help the poor and middle classes.
However, Mr Buffett also set a challenge for the Democrats who are set to form a special Congressional committee with Republicans to agree $1.5tn in budget savings.
He said "job one for the 12 [committee members] is to pare down some future promises that even a rich American can't fulfil".
While Republicans have been implacably opposed to tax rises, Democrats have been loathe to cut healthcare and social security benefits that some economists claim will become unaffordable as Americans live longer and baby-boomers retire.

[waterdog101]

sounds good to me, I wish I only had to pay 17.4% taxes.

[vetbass]

amen mr. buffet! I have expressed this very argument on this board several times and i keep getting the reply of the rich pay all the taxes and its not fair to "punish" the wealthy for being successful blah blah blah--the wealthy would pay the majority of the taxes if they actually paid the 33% bracket their actually in-however the repubs have made sure there are a thousand loopholes for the wealthy to use--how sad is it that a billionare paid less percentage wise in taxes than the average working joe--warren buffet and his 17% is no different than any other millionare or billionare who gets out of paying their fare share--if they paid somewhere close to the 33% their supposed too the repubs would have to balance the budget on the backs of the middle class

[RoadToad]

I think both sides need to listen to him. He speaks a lot of common sense. I still like his idea of making every incumbent ineligible for reelection if the deficit exceeds 3% of the GNP.

[vetbass]

watch the video link on yahoo news--this is actually a link coming from fox news republican network however it tells the truth about taxing rich and how that creates or doesnt create jobs---http://news.yahoo.com/stop-coddling-super-rich-buffett-084140678.html

[ZX200]

They should pay more,but if he is so adamant about paying more why doesn't he just write the IRS a big a@! check and put his money where his mouth is?

[Tom523]

I think he should just write out a 5 billion dollar check to the U.S. Government and then I'll believe him.

[vetbass]

buffett actually addressed that question before--you cant just send the irs a random check for no reason the system doesent work that way--if you send a check to the irs without actually owing that money they will send that check right back to you--this question is briefly explained in the video

[FlyLie]

10-4 on the video: http://news.yahoo.com/stop-coddling-...084140678.html

[GeoFisher]

buffett actually addressed that question before--you cant just send the irs a random check for no reason the system doesent work that way--if you send a check to the irs without actually owing that money they will send that check right back to you--this question is briefly explained in the video

HORSE CRAP. All he needs to do is NOT offset his gains against losses and he will owe ten shitloads of money to the IRS.

If he really wanted to pay a few billion more in TAXES, he could make it happen.

He's all about lip service in this case...........

I'm of course simplifying what he could do but it it is NOT rocket science if he really wanted to pay more in taxes.......

Later,

Geo

[vetbass]

offsetting his gains against losses is just another way to sidestep the system--another loophole to protect the wealthy--of course he is gonna take advantage of the system--just like anybody else would do--the repubs are trying to deflect the truth by trying to turn this into argument of why warren doesent just pay these extra taxes he talks about--the argument is that all the wealthy need to pay their fare share--17% is not their fare share

[GeoFisher]

offsetting his gains against losses is just another way to sidestep the system--another loophole to protect the wealthy--of course he is gonna take advantage of the system--just like anybody else would do--the repubs are trying to deflect the truth by trying to turn this into argument of why warren doesent just pay these extra taxes he talks about--the argument is that all the wealthy need to pay their fare share--17% is not their fare share

WRONG;............by not offsetting his gains with losses, he'd owe a boatload more in taxes.......because he MADE MORE.

Yea, it is a loophole.....one that you and I can use also, and I'm NOT WEALTHY.

Of course he's gonna take advantage?? WHY.....if he thinks he needs to pay more money, then do the right thing, and PAY MORE MONEY.......Personally, I think he pays enough......and I think I pay enough. How about the 47 million families that don't pay ONE RED CENT it taxes. How about we charge them 10 percent or 5 percent??

Instead, we give them a 4-5K tax payday every april 15th. And with that tax payday, we give them vacations, playstations, Xboxes, big screen TV's, fantastic new ipods, whatever............HOW about we not give them a big payday, and instead give them NOTHING........They didn't earn it....they didn't work for it......they will NEVER BETTER THEMSELVES with it......They are NOT entitled to spend my MONEY.......

Crap.....how hard is it to pound that into some of your guys' THICK HEAD??

This country was built on hard work and values. BOTH of those things are sorely missed in this country. When someone would rather take a gubment check instead of working a mcdonalds.....something is wrong.........I don't give a crap that they cannot make ends meet at 7.25 an hour. GET 2 jobs and work MORE HOURS.......I DID.

Later

Geo