Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
nytimes.com
Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
1–10 of 354 posts
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#2It looks like Joe Nocera got his wish from a week ago.
"I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit."
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/nocera-while-the-m...
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#3It looks like Joe Nocera got his wish from a week ago. "I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/nocera-while-the-m...
Buffet has been making noise about this for a long time now. Maybe now people will listen? I'm kind of skeptical.
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#4I suspect that the kind of people working behind the scenes to keep things as they are aren't anywhere near the super rich but the well off for who a high tax rate would impact their standard of living. Once you get up to the super rich they really aren't putting all earnings into the standard of living they keep.
(Don't have anything to back this up, just the impression I get from reading bits and pieces on the issue)
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#5It looks like Joe Nocera got his wish from a week ago. "I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/nocera-while-the-m...
Buffett has been saying this for years. I don't expect anyone to start listening now.
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#6The more I hear about this guy, the more I like him. He is so frank, it seems like he'd be a very interesting person to meet.
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#7It looks like Joe Nocera got his wish from a week ago. "I keep waiting for one wealthy, well-known figure to stand up and say publicly that he or she is willing to pay more in taxes as part of the shared sacrifice necessary to gain control of the country’s deficit." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/09/opinion/nocera-while-the-m...
We'll let them voluntarily pay more taxes then, or donate to charity, or start a charity or whatever.
By their very nature taxes are not voluntary, they're taken by force of law. Don't pay them then go to jail.
This is a stupid (but very easy) argument to make, one (of the richest)rich person says he'd be happy to pay more tax, therefor all rich people should pay more.
If he really wants to make a difference he'd be way better off spending his money on charirty, then it's not going to be entirely eaten up paying for beurocracy. THe government is not efficient AT ANYTHING.
When you pay taxes you're funding all that crap you don't agree with. Wars, funding for lobbies, paying politicians fat saleries, all those police raids on pot smokers etc. Why the hell would you want to give more to that?
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#8I wish Buffett would run for president. He could probably get a few things done.
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#9What's missing is an estimate of the revenue impact of doing what Buffet suggests.
I've always heard that this kind of policy would add little to revenue, because there is simply far more tax money available by taxing earned income.
Re: Warren Buffett: Stop coddling the super rich
#10The more I hear about this guy, the more I like him. He is so frank, it seems like he'd be a very interesting person to meet.
He really is amazing. I live in Omaha. You can drive by Buffett's house, and you'd have no idea who lives there if you didn't already know. I know people who have interacted with him on a regular basis, and he is just as personable and down-to-earth as his public image suggests.