Triple A, cap gains are taxed at 20% for AMT: http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Taxes/Taxshelters/P33512.asp
"change the rules" ... ie; raise taxes only after he is past is taxable years, and has avoided paying billions in estate taxes by donating the money to professional money handlers contributing to most-likely ideologically driven groups. hey I applaud the man, I wouldn't want half my life's work squandered by bureaucrats either, but it is somewhat inconsistent and perhaps even disingenious for him to call for RAISING TAXES never-the-less. Don't worry boys and girls, you think taxes are low now, just wait awhile, it's going to get really, really ugly soon.
Whoever is next president, they are going to inherit a bunch of bad debt...that taxpayers will have to make good on.
Astonishing how people can come up with arguments against Buffett's position that end up by maligning him. Truly remarkable. Was he calling for the raising of taxes? He seemed to be pointing out the flawed logic of scrapping the estate tax. Are most of the people here members of the 12000 estates affected? Young folks starting out are more likely to come from the 30 million poor families. I have to wonder if you understand what taxes are for. The raison d'etre of taxes is to raise the standard of living of everyone. It helps in the redistribution of wealth and thus power and allows for a more equitable playing field promoting social stability and social mobility. Are you aware of the potential consequences of excessive concentrations of wealth in a society? There are places in the world where in essence there is in effect little to no tax. I don't think many of those places are places you'd actually want to have been born in to a poor family.
spoken like a good little marxist. please source this for us. where is this stated in the constitution or the "dec of ind" that this is the reason for taxes? personally i want to live in a land of the free. i know that sounds like a militia thought these days... in fact having a pocket constitution is considered al quaeda almost, police think you are some kind of "terrist."
Freedom is a state of mind, and you will continually be a prisoner of your own paranoid delusional thinking... ...but you get free long distance calls. LMAO...
What is with the obsession of "short selling"? Is Buffett supposed to fix that too? Are you crazy? Like it or not, pal, it looks to me that Hillary is the next President, as your war mongering warrior chimp had put the GOP's near future into jeopardy. It will take a miracle or major Diebolt fix to remedy that, but than god knows what would happen. There is a good reason to be afraid!
Buffett is the financial world's equivalent of John Edwards, a transparent hypocrite lecturing others about their lack of morality even as he lives a life of privilege funded in part by taking advantage of every tax dodge available. If Buffett was calling only for people with his wealth to be taxed more, it would be different. Instead, he uses his own wealth as an example, knowing that the people who will end up paying the taxes he proposes will not be the super rich but those who aspire to the american dream. His liberal democrat pol's consider anyone making more than a schoolteacher's salary to be "rich" and deserving of higher taxes. If Buffett thinks his own tax status is such a disgrace, I would think the moral thing to do would be for him to pay what he thinks is appropriate to the government and forego all his tax avoidance schemes. I'm not holding my breath. As for your conclusion that the purpose of the tax system is to redistribute wealth, I have to agree with ratboy. The purpose of taxes is to fund the essential functions of government. A rational tax system will do that in a way that imposes the least possible damage on the economy. Redistribution schemes do the opposite. They punish success and reward sloth, creating incentives for less of the former and more of the latter. For some reason, liberals never seem to learn that.
This is your opinion. As for the truth, the system aka fuckism should be abolished and changed. The current tax structure is a major pillar in that archaic, unreasonable and unjust system. Paying voluntary tax is not the solution since even if Buffett paid it 10 others (like you) wouldn't. This country can default and major fiscal crisis could ensure before you selfish, greedy bastards would realize, texas are a necessity. As it is in Europe... wouldn't you know? They have a much more stable, content society, you bastards hate to admit. The well off do not need to live in walled enclaves, with private security like in the US or Latin America.