Why Billionaires like Buffet want to pay more taxes

Buffet is most likely a reasonable man, and realizes that his wealth (and that of others) is inextricably linked to the well-being of the middle class people who 'buy' things.

 

You do realize that buffetts income is taxed twice, right? Once at the corporate rate and then again at the capital gains or dividends rate...

 

In any case, I believe that Buffet KNOWS EXACTLY what he's calling for.

 

Not true.

The "Corporate Rate" is the tax on a corporation's profits, out of which it then pays dividends to stockholders.

Dividends to stockholders are considered a very secondary issue anymore compared to the increase of stock values.

Thus, much of Buffet's fortune is from capital gains income , which is the appreciation of value and has a 15% tax rate. Like all CEO's and most executives, his company gives him options to buy shares of stock in lieu of cash on their paycheck, which they then use to buy stock and make capital gains income.

Also, his shares of his companies simply appreciate as well, as well as his physical holdings and investments (houses, other businesses, land, oil etc.)

BTW, when he dies, none of these things EVER have taxers paid on them a they pass to inheritors, which is why we need to NOT eliminate the inheritance tax..

 

Really? You make over a million dollars a year and spend your time HERE?

Or is your butler typing your posts?

Dream on....

 

He knows that as long as he dumps his money into his foundations, taxes will not affect him.

Of course Buffet knows what he is calling for, and he knows that he has countermeasures already in place.

So, corporate taxes reduce dividends which are subsequently taxed. How does your statement not support the double tax assertion?

Huh? How is Buffet avoiding taxes on property and assets when everyone else is paying them? Get real.

 

FAR-sighted people liike Buffet know the middle class needs to make good money in order to buy things from his corporations. Just as Ford did with his cars, Ford paid his workers enough to buy one of his cars!


Quote:

My point was that most income is NOT from the dividends of a corporation, it is from the appreciation of the stock, and even more in Buffet's case, the enormous pay he gets from the corporations for his services.

Property taxes on property are an annual fee for the services involved from the local government for that property.

"Property taxes" are NOT taxes for the INCOME from the gain in the value of that that property, i.e. a the fact that it sells for a million dollars after being bought for $100.

When someone dies, the inheritors get the property with a tax basis of the value at the time of the death of the owner. So if it is now valued at a million dollars, and the new owner sells it for a million dollars, the new owner own NO taxes AT ALL the appreciation of value. The gain from $100 to 1 MILLION dollars is NEVER taxed if there are no inheritance taxes![/QUOTE]

 

Again with this stupid notion that Corporations pay taxes. People pay taxes, not corporations. When dividends are taxed, it is determined based on the income tax rate of the stockholders. Dividends are double taxed no matter how long you hold the stock. The government taxes Capital Gains and Dividends twice as corporate income taxes and then as personal income taxes.

So the notion that Warren Buffet is only paying 15 percent in taxes is ridiculous. Warren Buffet clearly is saying that he is for political and business reasons.

 

Hahahaha, not a single person in this world considers corporate taxes as individual tax. Warren Buffett does not include Berkshire Hathaway corporate taxes with his own.

 

Most people in this world are idiots. Well maybe it's an inherited ignorance trait of the left.

You can't tax Corporations like their people. The profits have to come from somewhere and there is no business model in which the CEO pays himself before the shareholders of the company.

Warren Buffet has a good amount of stocks. Probably about 3 stocks in his portfolio with about over a million shares and more than 10 percent of the company. He is mostly like not paying taxes on these dividends because he probably held these stocks for a long time, thus qualifying for the tax cut. That's not to say that he doesn't own plenty of other stocks which he bought just recently which doesn't qualify for the cut.

In a way, he is avoiding taxes simply by holding this stock. Warren Buffet is smart. He knows what he is doing by saying "tax me more."

 

If a corporation has capital gains, that would be taxed from teh corporation

But we are not talking about that.

I am talking about the wealthy's main INCOME is not from so-called "double taxed" dividends, it is from the appreciation of the value of the stock itself.

The corporation is NOT taxed on its increased value (unless it buys and sells the stock itself as a stock trader). ONLY the stock owners such as Buffet pay taxes on their income from SALES of their stock, and they pay ONLY 15% on that income!

Further, corporate managers are given stock OPTIONS to BUY stock, which costs them ZERO dollars in taxes UNTIL they EXERCISE that stock option to actually buy stock, and if it is a Incentive Stock Option bonus, they pay NO taxes until they SELL any stock they buy with that bonus! Those gains are 100% capital gains, at 15% taxation, while the corporate workers can pay up to 35%.

So the government DOES NOT "double tax" the CAPITAL GAINS income of the wealthy.

Further, for whatever dividends from corporations that may be THEORETICALLY "double-taxed", let us remember that profitable corporations pay on average only 11 or 12% taxes on profits, and many pay NOTHING at all, or actually get MONEY from the government!

The wealthy are doing JUST FINE!

 

you are very correct, Ephemera.

When it comes to higher taxes for the wealthy, here is a very sobering analysis that, unfortunately, Warren Buffet is obviously not aware of!

Well, it seems we are we are well on our way to drive the government's deficit to a record $1.5 trillion this year! "The eye-popping numbers mean the government will continue to borrow 40 cents for every dollar it spends."

"To put everything in perspective, think about what would need to be done to erase the federal deficit this year: After everyone making more than $200,000/year has paid taxes, the IRS would need to take every single penny of disposable income they have left. Such an act would raise approximately $1.53 trillion"



Mr. Obama, I know you are on your fourth vacation, but please tell us, when will the madness end? As our Commander-in-Chief, what do you intend to do to get our economy back on track and put millions of Americans back to work?

 

post 4 (PLotor) pretty much ended this discussion from a logic perspective. Warren Buffet DOES have to practice what he preaches BEFORE he tries to influence government officials to ask others to contribute more to wasteful spending and the IRS will accept donations. As one jumper said to the other, you first.

 

Legitimate as it might be, it's a loophole. Designed for the purpose. Can you take advantage of a 15% rate?

 

But that would mean that GE would have to stop shipping jobs overseas before he can lecture American businesses about their moral obligation to create jobs. Maybe that would also mean that GE should start paying taxes and get out if its incestuous relationship with Barackingham Palace.

You ask too much!

 

No, such claims are just self-evidently false, stupid and dishonest.

Consider the federal screwfly eradication program, which has saved livestock producers many billions in losses, in return for a quite modest federal expenditure. In what you are no doubt pleased to call your "mind," ranchers who wanted the federal government to eradicate the screwfly would first have to eradicate the pest on their own land, before making any such recommendation to the government. But of course, as screwflies would still be endemic on their neighbors' land, it would be virtually impossible for them to eradicate the flies on their own land. It would be a total waste of effort, and would lead to no one ever being in a position to ask for a federal eradication program.

That is the "logic" of your demand that Buffett first give his own money to the government before recommending that taxes be raised on the rich. Buffett's low tax burden is not the problem. The problem is the low tax burden on the rich and privileged in general, and Buffett giving money to the government would have no effect on that problem.

 

Of course he is taking advantage of loopholes. Which allow him to pay less tax than the average street cleaner.

That he thinks he should pay more probably comes as an ideological surprise to most corporate types. But that's the difference between him and them. He wants the best for America. They want the best for themselves - even if it comes at the expense of America.

 

If he wants to pay more he can always write a check to the IRS and pay more taxes.

Why does he? Because he doesn't care about American as much as you think he does.

 

You obviously fail to understand the concept of "leadership". His simply paying more would do little to change the game.

Which game is about persuading ALL fat cats to share their cream.

 

That notion is ridiculous because there is no business model in which the CEO gets profits before share holders. The taxes has to come from where and it comes from individuals.

You're not talking about corporate taxes but I am. That's the whole point. Warren Buffet want's to play the wealthy man who advocates that the wealthy pays taxes because he "pays less taxes than his secretary."

People don't want to pay attention or just ignore the fact that there are many other sources of income in which he is taxed on. Saying "tax me more" is just his way of advancing his political and business agenda.

 

Lead by example. That's what a "leader" is suppose to do.

Why doesn't he sell his dividends which qualify under the tax cut? Or how about the long term capital gains which qualify for the tax cut? Why doesn't he send a check to the government the amount he thinks he should be paying?

He is fine with any amount of taxes you throw at him because those taxes will never touch his wealth which he has accumulated for decades. Not so much for the new guys who are trying to become "fat cats" themselves.

Rich people are very good at staying rich. And Warren Buffet is the smartest rich guy I know. That's why he is able to preach all this BS about him more taxes when he knows that he has no intention of letting the government's greedy hands anywhere near his real money. He's pretty much playing you for a fool.

 

Yes, the concept of leadership really has escaped you, hasn't it? He is leading by example in advocating higher taxes for the rich (himself included). Why do you think he and others like him are all over the media?

But I see you are now distinguishing degrees of richness as a reason not to pay tax. The rich rich might pay taxes but the poor rich not. I am sure the rich poor will be shaking in their shoes.

 

What other's like him? It's just him. I don't see anyone else advocating for higher taxes on the rich. And just simply advocating is not leading by example. There are certain dividends he owns switch are not taxed. There are certain capital gains he owns which are not taxed.

Until he gets rid of these types of investments he is not leading anyone by example. It's just a classic example of: Do as I say, not as I do.

I don't care what anyone does with his or her money. They earned it. If they want to give it to the Obama Administration to waste, let them. Fortunately, these "rich people" feel that they can spend their money much better than Obama can. And frankly I agree.

What other people do with their wealth is their concern. They share it with who they want. The rich already pay most of the in this country. Warren simply wants to burden everyone else for the simply purpose of passing a political agenda

And again, no one is keeping Buffet from paying the taxes he thinks he should be paying. The Federal Government allows Buffet or his accountant to write whatever amount he makes to the Government when he files his taxes. He is the only one keeping himself from being in the 35 percent tax rate. No one else.

 

For the umpteenth time, you fail to grasp the concept of leadership. It's about changing the game for all Americans not making token gestures.

 

And for the umpteenth time, no one buys Warren Buffet's ilk. Not even the "Fat Cats." And their opinions are the ones which matter the most when it comes to what it's going to take for them to start hiring again. There is a conflict of interest when it comes to Buffet, politically and economically. He has very little credibility on this. The only thing that's going to give Buffet any amount of credibility is if he puts up or shuts up.

The only people who buy into the "stop coddling rich" mantra are the liberals who just want to play class warfare, the politicians who believe everyone should just pay higher taxes, and Warren Buffet of course.