Warren Buffett recently created a furor by writing an opinion piece in the New York Times titled, “Stop coddling the super-rich.”
His opinion carried weight because he is one of the super-rich. In fact he was rated the wealthiest person in the world in 2008 and is now ranked number three.
Buffett noted that last year his taxes amounted to only 17.4 percent of his taxable income - a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in his office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.
His opinion piece was followed by a petition signed by 16 of France’s wealthiest people, calling on their government to increase taxes on their income bracket.
In Germany, a group of 50 people that calls itself the Initiative of the Wealthy for a Wealth Tax welcomed the French petition. They have been campaigning for higher taxes for the rich since 2009.
Buffett’s opinion piece and the other initiatives by members of the super-wealthy to introduce more fairness into the tax system have excited a variety of responses.
Most amusing have been those reactions from those who appear to be driven by ideology to believe that only the poor and the middle class should pay taxes.
They imply that those who suggest that the wealthy should pay more taxes simply don’t understand economics.
Warren Buffett doesn’t understand economics? Maybe you’d better give your head a shake.
This was the guy who started as a child going door-to-door selling chewing gum, Coca-Cola and weekly magazines. He bought his first shares at age 11. By the time he finished college he had a net worth of $90,000 in today’s dollars.
Since then he has made himself and those investors who have supported him incredibly wealthy through his profound insight into how the world’s economy works.
Buffett has a proven track record in real world economics. If he says it’s time to end the gravy train for the super-wealthy, then it’s probably time for the rest of us to pay attention.