Buffett's Views on Taxes
Estate tax
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Buffett told The New York Times that the inheritance tax played a "critical role" in promoting economic growth by helping create a society in which success is based on merit rather than inheritance. Repealing the estate tax, he said, would be equivalent to "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."
Dividend tax
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When the U.S. Senate discussed a proposal that dividends be made 50% tax free in 2003, then 100% tax free in 2004 through 2006, Buffett wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post saying it would "further tilt the tax scales toward the rich".
Instead of the Senate's tax-cut plan, Buffett proposed it provide tax reductions to those who need and will spend the money in the form of a Social Security tax "holiday" or a tax rebate to lower-income people.
Buffett posed a hypothetical situation in which Berkshire Hathaway, which does not pay a dividend, paid $1 billion in dividends next year.
His 31% ownership would give him an additional $310 million in income (tax free). This would reduce his tax rate from about 30% to 3%, while his office secretary would still have a tax rate of about 30%.
"The 3% overall federal tax rate I would pay - if a Berkshire dividend were to be tax free - seems a bit light", Buffett wrote.
"Putting $1,000 in the pockets of 310,000 families with urgent needs is going to provide far more stimulus to the economy than putting the same $310 million in my pockets", Buffett added.
Property tax
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Warren Buffett used his own properties to illustrate an example.
His home in Omaha, Nebraska, is valued at about $500,000 and its recent annual property tax was $14,401.
His first home in Laguna Beach, California, purchased in the 1970s is valued at $4 million and its recent annual property tax was $2,264. His second home adjacent to the first was bought in the 1990s and is valued at $2 million with a recent tax of $12,202.
Buffett said in a Wall Street Journal interview that taxes on the two homes should be based on value, just like his home in Omaha, but instead is based on purchase date, as a consequence of limitations on increases in property tax established by California Proposition 13 (1978).
"In effect, it makes no sense", Buffett told the Wall Street Journal, in reference to large differences in tax assessments by purchase date.
Income tax
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Buffett opposed President George W. Bush's income tax cuts as favoring the wealthy. "If class warfare is being waged in America", he wrote, "my class is clearly winning". In the 2004 presidential election he supported Democratic candidate John Kerry and served as Kerry's economic adviser.
Estate tax
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Buffett told The New York Times that the inheritance tax played a "critical role" in promoting economic growth by helping create a society in which success is based on merit rather than inheritance. Repealing the estate tax, he said, would be equivalent to "choosing the 2020 Olympic team by picking the eldest sons of the gold-medal winners in the 2000 Olympics."
Dividend tax
---------------------------------
When the U.S. Senate discussed a proposal that dividends be made 50% tax free in 2003, then 100% tax free in 2004 through 2006, Buffett wrote an opinion piece in the Washington Post saying it would "further tilt the tax scales toward the rich".
Instead of the Senate's tax-cut plan, Buffett proposed it provide tax reductions to those who need and will spend the money in the form of a Social Security tax "holiday" or a tax rebate to lower-income people.
Buffett posed a hypothetical situation in which Berkshire Hathaway, which does not pay a dividend, paid $1 billion in dividends next year.
His 31% ownership would give him an additional $310 million in income (tax free). This would reduce his tax rate from about 30% to 3%, while his office secretary would still have a tax rate of about 30%.
"The 3% overall federal tax rate I would pay - if a Berkshire dividend were to be tax free - seems a bit light", Buffett wrote.
"Putting $1,000 in the pockets of 310,000 families with urgent needs is going to provide far more stimulus to the economy than putting the same $310 million in my pockets", Buffett added.
Property tax
--------------------------------
Warren Buffett used his own properties to illustrate an example.
His home in Omaha, Nebraska, is valued at about $500,000 and its recent annual property tax was $14,401.
His first home in Laguna Beach, California, purchased in the 1970s is valued at $4 million and its recent annual property tax was $2,264. His second home adjacent to the first was bought in the 1990s and is valued at $2 million with a recent tax of $12,202.
Buffett said in a Wall Street Journal interview that taxes on the two homes should be based on value, just like his home in Omaha, but instead is based on purchase date, as a consequence of limitations on increases in property tax established by California Proposition 13 (1978).
"In effect, it makes no sense", Buffett told the Wall Street Journal, in reference to large differences in tax assessments by purchase date.
Income tax
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Buffett opposed President George W. Bush's income tax cuts as favoring the wealthy. "If class warfare is being waged in America", he wrote, "my class is clearly winning". In the 2004 presidential election he supported Democratic candidate John Kerry and served as Kerry's economic adviser.
