[FoRK] How Barack lost my vote forever

[Owen Byrne]

I guess Warren Buffett is a socialist too.
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Tom: Are you surprised there's not more talk in this presidential  
campaign about economic fairness and economic justice?

Warren: Yeah. I-- I-- I am surprised-- it may be that everybody wants  
to be cautious-- while they're looking to get nominated, but-- but the  
degree to which the-- economic-- well, the taxation system has tilted  
toward the rich and away from the middle class in the last ten years  
is-- is dramatic, and I don't think it's appreciated. And I think it  
should be addressed.

Tom: You've gone very public with this.

Warren: Right.

Tom: You've talked about in your office, for example, you pay a much  
lower tax rate with all of your wealth than, say, a receptionist does.

Warren: That's exactly right, Tom. And I-- I think the only way to do  
it is with specifics, and-- and - and in our office, 15 people  
cooperated in a survey out of 18. I didn't make anybody do it. And my  
total taxes paid-- payroll taxes plus income tax-- and the payroll tax  
is an income tax. It's based on income.

Tom: Yeah.

Warren: Mine came to-- 17.7 percent. That-- that was the-- that was  
line 61 I think-- or, no, line 43-- is the percent of taxable income,  
plus payroll taxes, 17.7 percent. The average for the office was 32.9  
percent. There wasn't anybody in the office from the receptionist on  
that paid as low a tax rate. And I have no tax planning. I don't have  
an-- I don't have a-- an accountant. I don't have tax shelters. I just  
follow what the U.S. Congress tells me to do.

Tom: Why do you think that there's not more outrage about that?

Warren: I-- I don't think people understand it. For one thing, you'll  
see a lot of surveys that say the rich, the top one percent pay this  
much of the income tax. Now I think what people don't realize is that  
almost one third of the entire budget comes from payroll taxes. And  
payroll taxes on income, just like income taxes are taxes on income.
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http://www.cnbc.com/id/21553857/


Owen

On Apr 17, 2008, at 4:26 PM, Bill Humphries wrote:

>
> On Apr 17, 2008, at 12:04 PM, Jeff Bone wrote:
>> The man is a socialist;  I use the term not in a jingoistic or ad  
>> hominem sense, but in a very real, very literal sense.
>
>
> Raising taxes doesn't make one a socialist. If he was calling for  
> the nationalization of industries, then he'd be a socialist.
>
> Anyway, it cracks me up to see well-off boys freak out whenever  
> someone mentions taxes. You'd think someone was running after their  
> genitalia with a pair of bolt cutters.
>
> -- whump
>
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