Warren Buffett, billions of reasons for a tax rate hike, and the news media too.

Seems Mr. Buffett can not help himself and once again made news by saying that those evil rich people should pay more taxes. I have lost count of the number of times he has said this in some form or another. For the record let's examine what is going on here with his continuing push for higher taxes.

First off let's understand even if the tax rates were pushed up Mr. Buffett would not be paying additional taxes not matter how high the rates go up. Mr. Buffett has made an agreement to give much of his billions of net worth to the Gates Foundation so anything he withdraws from his Berkshire Hathaway fortune as capital gains to spend will be more than offset by his charitable gift rendering the distribution tax free. So do not have empathy for Mr. Buffett wanting pay more taxes. I doubt he will pay a dime of income tax the rest of his life. Unlike his secretary, who he constantly says pays a higher tax rate then he does. Of course he does not point out that his secretary is paying social security which is not a tax but a payment into an annuity to be collected later. If was more caring he could pay his secretary more and push her up into a higher tax bracket, but do not expect him to since he is notoriously cheap. Just ask the staff at the Buffalo NY newspaper about that point. Now if Mr. Buffet was truly wanting to pay more taxes he could just donate some of his money to the US Treasury, come on Warren and set an example for all of us. While you are doing that why not take some of those billions you are giving to the Gates Foundation and give them to the US Treasury if you truly believe they need the resources. Hmm..I expect with no tax deductibility there you do not like that option.

Let's also point out that Mr. Buffett never points out that President Obama thinks rich begins at $250K of income. Not quite billions there. How about this idea Mr. Buffett suggest a higher tax rate on mega income owners of say $5 million dollar plus annually. Let's also include in the new tax deal that the highly paid movie stars and sports stars who avoid lots of taxes now by using Foundations by saying if you make over $1 million dollars annually you can use no tax dodges like Foundations and you just got to pay. Wonder how fast Hollywood and the professional players unions would tell him to go to hell there?  Add in that movie stars and sports stars, unlike corporate executives high pay, get to deduct their income from the company's tax liability. Let's end that little tax dodge too, courtesy of the Clinton administration back in the 1990's.

Lastly, once again the agenda press has fallen in line here too. You will notice no one in the press questions Mr. Buffett's generosity of proposing higher taxes here. They do not because higher taxes are part of their agenda. No questions, no pursuit of why Mr. Buffett is so desirous of higher taxes. Not one single story asking why?   Mr. Buffett personally prospers from higher taxes because the smaller businesses he is so fond of buying for his Berkshire empire get hit with these big taxes when the original owner dies and must look for a buyer to pay the tax load and guess who is sitting there with a pot of cash just to do that? Yes, he not only gets to buy from people in their our of extreme distress he gets to buy these businesses cheaper too. What a swell guy.

So my friends appreciate the fact that Warren Buffett has lived the American Dream life and prospered from his smarts, but do not give him credit for his supreme generosity beyond it's due.