Thursday, November 15, 2007
C'Mon Mr. Buffet. You Have Enough Money Quit Trying To Take Mine
Warren Buffet doesn't think I should get a break when I inherit my father's estate (IF I inherit my father's estate but that's another story). I hate to think that I will have to liquidate part of the assets to pay for the tax but I may have to. I never have understood the reason why the government should be paid to transfer wealth among family. Sure they can take profits and earnings but transfer upon death has never made sense to me. So to you Mr. Buffet, why don't you just leave your money with the government and help cover my taxes.
This is from the Baltimore Sun
by Mark Silva
"I think we need to ... take a little more out of the hides of guys like me," Buffett told the panel.
Buffett, one of the world's richest men and most generous philanthropists, is outspoken against Republican efforts mainly to repeal or lower the federal tax on inheritances. Democrats mainly call its repeal a windfall for the nation's wealthiest, while Republicans say the so-called "death tax'' burdens many small businessmen and farmers as well.
Already, the tax is being rolled back as part of the tax cuts that President Bush pushed during his first term -- with estates worth up to $2 million this year and next exempt. Bush has called on Congress to make his tax-cuts permanent, but Democrats aren't rushing to that call.
By 2009, the exemption is slated to rise to estates valued at up to $3.5 million, and by 2010 the tax is to be repealed -- but only for a year. Unless Congress acts, the tax will return with a big swing in '11, taxing estates at over $1 million with a top tax rate of 55 percent.
Inheritance taxes preserve a measure of meritocracy, insists Buffett, an Omaha-based business phenomenon, arguing that great wealth should be recycled through society.
"The resources of society I don't think should pass along in terms of an aristocratic dynasty of wealth," Buffett told the Senate committee. "I believe in keeping equality of opportunity as much as you can in this country."
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Y'know, they actually have a system
Y'know, they actually have a system where you can donate money to the federal government, if you feel the need to. :)
In a communistic society, the secretary and the CEO would pay the same amounts in income tax because they would be paid the same amount for their labors.
Yes, you can say that it should be possible to lower the secretary's taxes rather than raising the CEOs. This would remove federal revenue, so there would have to be spending cuts. Have you seen the US debt lately? $9.8 trillion dollars. We can't cut taxes, we have to raise them significantly.
By the way, it was $5.6 trillion when GW took office. That's the effects of the tax cuts that gave most of the benefits to people like Warren Buffet.
In 2000, the US Government was taking in an extra $526 billion a year more than it was spending. By 2004, the government was losing $648 billion a year (a change of $1.1 trillion dollars).
Besides, the rich are the ones that have money, ergo, you have to tax them. :)
"Well, the basic premise is to prevent
"Well, the basic premise is to prevent the creation of aristocratic dynasties like the Kennedys, Bushes and Hiltons."
The inheritance tax collects $24 billion a year. Unless the superrich have extraordinary longevity, that's very little money to collect at those high rates of taxation. That's because the supperrich generally have very good estate planners. So, isnstead of having the money simply transferred we get dead weight loss from the suboptimal allocation of resources.
Very well said. Not sure I completely
Very well said. Not sure I completely agree but you certainly present better than I so I've switched to your point of view.
Well, the basic premise is to prevent
Well, the basic premise is to prevent the creation of aristocratic dynasties like the Kennedys, Bushes and Hiltons.
Money accumulates. Once it reaches a critical mass, it becomes self-perpetuating almost. Now, if you work hard and diligently, you can come up with an extremely huge amount of money.
And your kids will turn out to be like Paris Hilton.
Is that what you want for this country? Paris Hiltons and NASCAR fans? =)
True, eventually it'll break down into smaller bits as it gets broken down between the kids and whatnot over generations.. Just look at the DuPonts and Rockefellers. But that's more measured in centuries.
I'm a believer in Estate taxes (as you might have noticed), at least on a reasonable fashion. Let's say, $30 million and up gets taxed at, oh, 30-40%. The current levels do affect too many people, but it's never led to someone having to sell the family farm to pay the tax (really, it hasn't, you can check).
Personally? I'd rather Paris Hilton (and those like her) be taxed. She probably doesn't even notice income tax, anyway.
Oh, something I always found amusing.. Until the late 1970's, the highest tax bracket was 90%. It's now 35%, and they're still complaining that it's too much. Go fig.
-steve
p.s. - love the site, especially the tattoo posts.
Buffett needs to STFU. If he wants to
Buffett needs to STFU. If he wants to donate more of his own money, he can write the IRS a goddamn check for whatever he thinks he's been "undercharged."
It shows just how communistic some of these goatfuckers are, when they see a secretary paying a higher percentage tax than a ceo, and they want the ceo to pay more.
If it was really about being "fair" isn't it equally possible to argue that the secretary should pay less?