Warren Buffet is welcome to pay as much tax as he likes to the U.S. Federal government. That's the response I keep hearing from people about his recent op-ed in the New York Times.
It's a great thing for people to say because: 1. it's true and 2. it seems to make everything that Buffet says seem absurd.
The problem is that Warren Buffet wasn't saying that ONLY he should be taxed at a higher rate but that all folks who fall in the millionaire/billionaire club should be taxed at a slightly higher rate. Warren Buffet knows that just him and a couple of his friends paying higher taxes wouldn't help anything. And most of the people saying that 'he is welcome to pay as much as he likes' know it too.
So, why do they say it? Because it makes him look a bit like a jerk for not "putting his money where his mouth is" and ponying up. The problem is that Warren actually wants to solve the problem not just throw his money in to a black hole. He knows that if ALL of the rich were taxed at a slightly higher rate AND some spending cuts were made it would go a long way towards reducing the federal deficit.
I'm not going to rehash what he said but I hope you will reread it and realize that Mr. Buffet knows a thing or two about money. He is also a patriot who realizes that there are very few places on this planet where he could have accumulated the amount of wealth that he has. He is willing pay higher taxes for this privilege and the preserve the privilege for future generations.
Now I can hear the grumbling about penalizing success and class warfare and so on. Please.
If these same complainers were stranded on a lifeboat with enough food and water for everyone would they insist the that a few people get more because they are stronger or luckier or harder working than the rest? What if they were stranded on a Yacht? A Cruise ship? At what scale does it become okay for a few people to control all of the resources and deprive everyone else?
It's immoral to not raise the taxes slightly on people who can afford it in order to continue to help people who have almost nothing. I don't think the 80 year old widow who lives on social security wants a new diamond ring or a jet ski, she just wants to eat, sleep indoors and take her medication. Is is really too much to ask of our wealthiest citizens to pay a little more so that she can continue to live?
