Warren Buffett: "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich"; Billionaire Investor Renews Call for Higher Taxes

Warren Buffett is trending after the billionaire investor penned an op-ed in the New York Times calling for the United States to stop coddling the mega-rich. Buffett has made a case for higher taxes on the rich before, this time noting, "People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off." Buffett pointed out that between 1980 and 2000, nearly 40 million jobs were added to the economy even though tax rates on investment income were significantly higher. He called on the newly created debt "super committee" in Congress to raise taxes on the richest 0.3 percent of wealthy Americans, though he never specified an exact rate.

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[florianalexbaaden]

Most importantly, singling out the super-rich distracts from the real problem: the myriad policies that make no sense in the first place because they inhibit economic growth and that simultaneously redistribute from low-income households to the middle and upper classes.

[BlameRepublicans]

Right - you know better than Warren Buffet? So how many billions do you have?  LOL.

[SimAlex20000]

@florianalexbaaden the way to promote a hard-working, entrepreneurial society is to feed and educate the people in it. what does "celebrating great wealth" even mean? is there a metric for that? is that measurable? i would think a real economist would base one's theory on hard facts, not some murky, anecdotal phrase.

[oreion69]

@florianalexbaaden So hey, what do you think about cutting taxes on the rich?

[oreion69]

@florianalexbaaden Well then ,the government can just use the new tax revenue to spend on government programs which create jobs. These newly created jobs will then redistribute the wealth from the sticky fingered rich into the hands of the splurging poor spinning the wheels of the economy and encouraging spending. There you go. See, I can foretell the future too because I have an education and therefore Einsteins IQ.I value Warren Buffets opinion over yours any day of the week.

[florianalexbaaden]

The history of tax-rate increases shows that they seldom produce much revenue. Their principal effect is to make higher taxes on the poor and the middle class more palatable. In fact, because of inflation and real growth of the economy, in just a few years tax rates originally imposed on the rich often apply to those with middle incomes.

[florianalexbaaden]

@oreion69 In the end, your opinion is based more on speculation and generalization than fact or true understanding. The fact is, we CAN and DO know certain things through analysis and study of economic principles. Many "economists" simply tend to ignore them. One of the most basic is that tax-rate increases almost always produce negative effects because they discourage spending in the private sector (what really drives the economy) and produce very little significant revenue.

[florianalexbaaden]

@oreion69 Additionally, your correlation regarding attitude is flawed. I was not speaking of one's own attitude towards something. I was speaking of another's attitude towards a certain group. In which case said group has the choice to remove themselves from the unfavorable environment created by it. The group is not necessarily forced accept the unfavorable environment and has the choice to seek a more favorable one. This is what happens in a free market global economy.