Buffett urges taxation fairness
Billionaire investor Warren Buffett criticized US tax policy as being too lenient on the "super-rich", such as himself, during a fundraiser for presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton in San Francisco.
Buffett, 77, the third-richest person in the world according to Forbes Magazine, said the Forbes 400 wealthiest people have seen their combined net worth increase seven times in the past 20 years. That compares with the average US wage, which has gained 80 percent during the same period.
"The American worker went no place, while the super-rich flourished, aided by the tax code," said Buffett, who built Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire Hathaway Inc into a holding company with a market value of $230 billion. "If you believe in a trickle-down theory, nothing has trickled since 1987."
Buffett said the US payroll tax is regressive because lower- and middle-income workers pay a higher percentage of their earnings than upper-income earners do.
"The government has decided, apparently, that like condor or spotted owl or something that, I'm this treasured national resource to be preserved at all costs - and if my cleaning lady has to pay a higher tax rate on her payroll tax than I pay on my dividends and capital gains, what could be more fair," he said.
Clinton also said the inheritance tax should be kept in place, a view shared by Buffett before the Senate Finance Committee last month.
Bloomberg News
(China Daily 12/13/2007 page16)
