Warren Buffet says that the rich aren't paying their proportionate share of the tax burden. Is he right?

Question

As the 2nd richest man in the world... you'd think he would know... wouldn't you?

"Speaking at a $4,600-a-seat fundraiser in New York for Democrat Senator Hillary Clinton, Mr Buffett, who is worth an estimated $52 billion, told the wealthy audience: “The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies for that matter."

"If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent."

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article1995931.ece

Ronin, I pay as much taxes as you do. Perhaps more. The difference is that I don't whine about it.

Laissez-Faire Guy, by your logic, the less money you make, the greater portion of your income you should be paying in taxes.

Think, man!

Yes, Michael, I know... greed is good.

Where the heck do you people come from?

Iberius, very few "super wealthy" 'work' for their money in the way that you mean. So how would they know?

Answer 1

I've heard him say such things before,and he is of course right. Many like Rush or Hannity love to trumpet the idea that the rich pay the lions share of taxes,which in raw dollars they do. But as a percentage of income they don't even come close,if they did the Federal government would be positively awash in funds.By the time all is said and done they pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than almost everyone that works for them,Buffett is not the first wealthy person to point out that little fact,but he is certainly the most vocal.

Jack

Answer 2

Heres my ugly take on this issue:

Most supports of the current system ascribe also to the myth of upward mobility. In this country its part of the generally accepted mythology that you can be whatever you want to be. People tell their kids you could be president though there is no real supportive evidence for this historically. 1 poor president the rest rich people.
The myth that all you need is game and you can be in the NBA. True enough it does happen but realistically you might as well get in the lottery. Its a farce and once it sinks into the minds of the average american they will begin to truely resent it. Right now they go to the movies and see Happyieness or some such propaganda about a guy with only the will to succeed. They need to tell the hundreds of stories where the same will meets defeat.

Answer 3

He is an idiot. He can simply pay more in taxes. He does not have to force others into that. If he believes so much in his statements, why not just write a check? Well put on how the Death Tax destroys small business. Do not expect liberals to understand this because they have never owned a business. You bring hope to the next generation.

Answer 4

yep... that whole " the top rich people pay 50 percent of taxes" thing comes into focus a little more when you realize they are still paying a lower rate than I am...

I wonder how much of the wealth they have? 70 percent? and they're only paying 50 percent of the taxes?

guess someone is paying the rest.... and they aren't making as much

Answer 5

a lot of people are not paying their share because the big bad IRS has lots of incompetent and possible corrupt employees, particularly in upper management, to include former IRS Commissioner Charles Rosotti. Maybe the guy will try to sue me for this statement.......I'm a waiting.

Answer 6

why would he know? he never worked for any of his money, other people worked for it, and he went along for the ride as an investor. if he wants to pay more taxes he can go right ahead. no one is stopping him. the claim that the rich pay a lower % rate than their employees is a lie. the employees pay 15% on what they earn over 30 grand or so, so if they make 60k, they pay 7.5 % of their income, plus anothe 7% in fica. then if they own a house, they deduct all the mortgage interest, so they pay even less than the gross 14.5%.

The rich pay 25% off the top in corporate income taxes when there is income. then, after the dividends are distributed, they pay another 38% plus whatever state tax they pay. the total is way over 50%

Answer 7

Buffets secretary paid more in taxes (percentage wise) than he did. Damn, I am sure glad the Bush lowered taxes on the rich folks, seems they really need it.

what is most ironic is that many times on yahoo, I have seen Republicans insist that the rich pay to much in taxes and I have never seen anyone in the top one percent say the pay to much. they are aware that they have been blessed and don't mind paying back to a society that made them rich.

Answer 8

I agree.

what ever happen to 'give what you can' and 'ask not what your country can do for you...'?

people think about themselves far too often.
its about the percent and not the actual amount you give. for instance Bill Gates donated a few million dollars to an educational charity. while that's great, people forget that in proportion to his income is like my family (who is middle class) donating under $50.

Answer 9

yes he is the rich get all kinds of breaks many coroporations pay zilch you and i pay thru the nose. On paper it looks like they pay a high rate but they can make deductions like crazy that we can't.

Answer 10

No, I don't agree with Warren. Not at all.

According to IRS data, linked to below, the richest 1% earn 19% of the nation's income, but pay 37% of the income taxes. Sounds more than fair to me.

Yes, he probably does pay a lesser percentage of his income to taxes than does his cleaning lady. But he also quite probably pays more in taxes than 2,000 cleaning ladies do. Maybe 20,000. Maybe even more. In fact, with the Earned Income Credit, it's quite possible that Warren Buffet pays more taxes than all the cleaning ladies in the country combined.

Besides which, the rich, especially the ultra rich, provide far more in benefits to society than tax revenue. How many people has Bill Gates employed in high wage jobs? Many thousands directly. How many people and businesses has he made more wealthy by being more productive? Millions.

The ultra rich, like Gates and Buffet, also tend to set up foundations that will give most of that money back to charities of their choice. This has been very common in American business. Rockefeller, Carnegie, Stanford, Ford, etc. have all done it.

I do agree with his last statement though. If you are the richest (not luckiest as luck has nothing to do with it) 1%, you do owe it to the others to do something for them. However, mostly likely if you are in that 1%, you already are, in more ways than one.