Posted 11:18 pm Sunday, February 05, 2012
Buffett Rule, Feb. 5
Warren Buffett is President Barrack Obama’s hero, saying that “millionaires should pay more taxes.”
Buffett has gone on record that his secretary pays a higher percentage on her tax return than he does. What both he and Obama fail to point out is that every dollar Buffett now has to reinvest was once taxed when Buffett or one of his companies earned it at a rate somewhere between 25 and 35 percent. Now when Buffett pays his income taxes on his reinvested earnings it is at a 15 percent rate.
His secretary who only earns $200,000 per year, depending on her deductions, likely pays eighteen to twenty-five percent on her W-2 earnings. If she has reinvested dollars that are drawing earnings, her rate on those is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent.
No wonder Buffett is a hero, paying anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of each dollar he has and now saying he and all other millionaires should pay more. Just how much more, Mr. Buffett, is sufficient? And if paying taxes is so honorable, why is Berkshire-Hathaway still haggling with the IRS over that last $5 billion?
Deanna Drab
Payne Springs
Buffett has gone on record that his secretary pays a higher percentage on her tax return than he does. What both he and Obama fail to point out is that every dollar Buffett now has to reinvest was once taxed when Buffett or one of his companies earned it at a rate somewhere between 25 and 35 percent. Now when Buffett pays his income taxes on his reinvested earnings it is at a 15 percent rate.
His secretary who only earns $200,000 per year, depending on her deductions, likely pays eighteen to twenty-five percent on her W-2 earnings. If she has reinvested dollars that are drawing earnings, her rate on those is somewhere between 5 and 10 percent.
No wonder Buffett is a hero, paying anywhere from 40 to 50 percent of each dollar he has and now saying he and all other millionaires should pay more. Just how much more, Mr. Buffett, is sufficient? And if paying taxes is so honorable, why is Berkshire-Hathaway still haggling with the IRS over that last $5 billion?
Deanna Drab
Payne Springs
