Raise Taxes on the Super Rich, Billionaire Buffett Urges Congress

In an Aug. 14 New York Times Op-Ed column that made corporate execs and other members of the super rich cringe, Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the U.S., urged Congress to stop coddling the super rich and raise tax rates on Americans with incomes of $1 million or more.

Buffet, who is worth $50 billion, said he is appalled that he paid a lower percentage of federal taxes last year than anyone else working in his office who make a lot less. "Last year, my federal tax bill. . .was $6,9383,744. That sounds like a lot of money," he said, "but what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income and that's actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent," he said.

Buffet deplores the fact that tax rates for the nation's 400 richest have steadily fallen, declining from 29.2 percent in 1992 to just 21.5 percent in 2008. And "88 of the 400 in 2008," he noted, reported no wages at all" because all of their income was in the form of capital gains which are taxed at only 15 percent.

"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress," he said, stressing, "It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice."

Buffet said a higher tax rate for the super rich should be a major goal of the 12-person "super committee" in Congress that has been directed to come up with a plan cut the federal deficit when Congress reconvenes. He wants higher tax rates for those making $1 million and $10 million or more.