Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Class Traitor?

The mega-rich have been "coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress." No, that's not some tax-the-rich liberal speaking. It's mega-investor Warren Buffett. Worth $50bn, Buffet called for higher rates for those who earn $1 billion or more in the US, said that it was wrong that the middle and lower classes paid a far higher proportion of their incomes than the rich. “While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks...These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It's nice to have friends in high places," he wrote. "Our leaders have asked for “shared sacrifice.” But when they did the asking, they spared me. I checked with my mega-rich friends to learn what pain they were expecting. They, too, were left untouched."

He went on to say "I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off."

1 comment:

ajohnstone said...

The bottom 40 percent of the U.S. have about 0.3 percent of the wealth, basically zero.

The top 20 percent have 84 percent of the wealth.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec11/makingsense_08-16.html