<p>Buffet is such a hypocrite. </p>
<p>Berkshire Hathaway, according to the IRS owes a lot of money in back taxes, taxes that Buffet has been contesting for years. Pay it Warren.</p>
<p>And then pay your secretary more. Give her some stock in Berkshire Hathaway so she could get capital gains too. </p>
<p>And while you’re at it, dissolve the foundation you set up so that your estate could avoid the estate taxes.</p>
<p>You got me curious, so I asked Mr Google about Mr Buffett’s personal portfolio. Does he own stock other than BRK ? According to this article, he does, and most of his income is in the form of dividends from that portfolio which if “qualified” are currently taxed at 15%. </p>
<p>This article was written in January… and it is on the internet, so who knows if it is accurate or true?</p>
<p>[BetterTrading:</a> A Look Into Warren Buffett’s Personal Portfolio](<a href=“http://bettertrading.blogspot.com/2011/01/look-into-warren-buffetts-personal.html]BetterTrading:”>BetterTrading: A Look Into Warren Buffett's Personal Portfolio)</p>
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<p>I agree. Assuming Buffet’s income comes from long-term capital gains, nothing in the text of the proposal seems to address that.</p>
<p>so it looks like Buffet buys blue chip stocks with a dividend yield averaging 2.2%. That yield is not impressive, but I guess if you have accumulated that large of a portfolio you no longer need to worry about the yield.</p>
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<p>If true, then his income is not derived from capital gains, but from dividends, which I believe have their own taxation rates.</p>
<p>I don’t recall reading anything about raising dividend tax rates in the proposal either.</p>
<p>Dividends would be taxed at ordinary income rates if the Bush tax cuts expire.</p>
<p>Most of Buffett’s wealth has never been taxed and it looks like it never will be taxed. </p>
<p>So…most of his wealth has been taxed at a zero percent rate.</p>
<p>Since he is giving most of his money to a charity he escapes estate taxes. Is this good or bad?</p>
<p>Buffets Berkshire income was 100k, with about another 300K that appeared on his w2 for personal and home security services paid for by Berkshire. Its all in the proxy.</p>
<p>I doubt that he holds any stock outside of Berkshire. Its hard to figure where the other income came from. Berkshire doesn’t pay a dividend. Retracted after reading above post more carefully. I am surprised he owns any of those stocks outside of his berkshire holdings. </p>
<p>The administrations minimum rate idea may simply be an awkward way of saying they want to tax hedge fund managers income at a regular rate, despite the fact that it comes from capital gains. Most of the proposals in the link document boil down to we need your money because we’ve overspent and can’t afford our promises. I’m in favor of letting the so called Bush tax cuts expire for everyone. Ive been hearing for the last 8 years that they were all for a small minority anyway, so that shouldn’t make any difference to anyone but the high earners…should it.</p>
<p>Well…if the US taxed Buffett’s wealth and others in similar situations…</p>
<p>Then others could pay less…</p>
<p>The tax free exchange of real estate is another dodge…others not as wealthy as Buffett take part in this. And depreciation…</p>
<p>Then there are munis…I do owe some…they are tax free…although the interest rates would be higher on munis if they weren’t tax free.</p>
<p>Then there are long term capital gains on futures contracts…many wealthy people and not so wealthy people benefit by this…including me for full disclosure…</p>
<p>Then there are retirement plans…I benefit by this…</p>
<p>Then there is the home mortgage…i indirectly benefit by this…</p>
<p>Then there is the tax free health benefit…</p>
<p>The write off of property taxes…the write off of meals…</p>
<p>I saw one tax return where the guy made 2 million gross and 20,000 net…
The guy sure had many write offs…some…I don’t know…I’m not a CPA…but people like him cause taxes to be higher for others…</p>
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<p>What say you, dstark? If he never realizes any of his gains, do you care whether he paid taxes on it? And does the fact that charities benefit from his gains alleviate your concerns about the unfairness of it?</p>
<p>Forbes estimates Warren Buffett to be worth $47 billion dollars. He is 79 years old. He has three children. </p>
<p>If Buffett truly believed that the federal government was a worthy recipient of his fortune, he could and should just leave it all to the government (after providing a few mill to each of his three children).</p>
<p>No…I think inheritance taxes should be paid when Buffett dies.</p>
<p>I am not sure on retirement plans. You are losing the better cap gains and dividend rates with retirement money as the income is ordinary income.</p>
<p>That’s true…</p>
<p>why doesn’t Buffett pay the taxes the IRS says his company owes?</p>
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<p>It’s not hypocrisy to play by the rules while trying to change them. This applies to conservative Congressmembers who oppose the stimulus, but try to get some of the money for their districts after it passes, as well as leftist billionaires who promote higher taxes on the rich. You’re not obligated to unilaterally disarm.</p>
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<p>So, who would pay that when he dies, if he has given his money to charity?</p>
<p>Even people who believe in inheritance taxes only believe in them when there’s an inheritance to tax.</p>
<p>I am sure ways can be figured out so the estate pays an inheritance tax…Or some other tax…</p>
<p>Bay…you should be happy…I don’t think the Soros estate should escape an estate tax either.</p>