Republicans call out Buffett for views on wealthy taxpayers

I tried to delete this post when I discovered a similar topic by another A2Ker, but it was too late. So I transferred this article to the other site.

BBB

August 18, 2011
By Jim Morrill
[email protected]

Bruton Smith doesn't feel coddled.

Not like billionaire Warren Buffett, who thinks tax laws let wealthy Americans off easy.

"If he wants to just send more money, he can write a check," says Smith, a Republican and chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports. "... He should sit down and shut his mouth."

Buffett's suggestion this week that the rich are "coddled" by a "billionaire-friendly Congress" sparked a national debate and set off a firestorm of criticism from Republicans and others, including some wealthy Charlotteans.

"For him to say what he said I think is full of crap," says Felix Sabates, a Republican and successful businessman and car dealer. "So you're going to squeeze the rich guy and create more unemployment?"

No Charlotteans are in the category of Buffett, No. 2 on Forbes list of the richest Americans. Dale Halton says his portfolio "makes mine look pathetic."

Halton built her fortune after saving her grandfather's Pepsi Cola Bottling Co. - the nation's first Pepsi franchise - from bankruptcy in 1981. She climbed into the president's seat and began to rebuild her grandfather's legacy. She has given huge sums of money to UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College.

"For him there are all kinds of ways to get around paying so much in taxes," says Halton. "I do have a considerable amount of investments and income. But I don't have the options he has to avoid paying taxes."

But Buffett's comments in a Monday New York Times opinion piece renewed debate about a Byzantine tax code that critics say skews benefits toward the wealthy.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the top 1 percent of taxpayers paid 29.5 percent in 2007 - down from 37 percent in 1979.

However, CBO says their share of all federal taxes rose from 15.4 percent to 28.1 percent over the same period.

Republicans blasted Buffett questioning Buffett's sincerity.

"If Warren Buffet (sic) wants to pay more taxes and send more of his money to Washington, why doesn't he just do it?" tweeted Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., who has led the push against tax increases to help reduce budget deficits.

Donald Trump entered the fray in an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos. Trump, who earlier this year considered seeking the GOP presidential nomination, said he would be willing to see his tax rates increased from 17 percent to 25 percent.

"But a lot of people wouldn't be," he said. "A lot of people would leave the country."

"I'm talking about big people, job-producing people," Trump continued. "A lot of people will say, 'No thank you, I'm going to Switzerland. I'm going to Germany. I'm going to here, I'm going to there.' "

Retired Bank of America Corp. chief executive Hugh McColl Jr. says Buffett's comments "made sense."

"Most people I know would be willing to pay more in taxes if that would be used for debt reduction," says McColl, who has said in the past that he is a Democrat. "I think people want to see the debt itself reduced, not just cutting the rate we are increasing the deficit."

Businessman C.D. "Dick" Spangler, No. 238 on the Forbes list, calls fellow billionaire Buffett "a very wise man." But he won't say whether he'd be willing to pay higher taxes.

"There probably needs to be a revamping of the tax code," he says, "which would be broad."

Spangler, a Democrat, wouldn't offer his own specific prescription for solving the country's debt problem, but said by far the best solution is improving the economy.

"That will bring in enormous revenue," he said. "It doesn't do any good raising taxes on people who are unemployed. The only way out is a much better economy."

Smith says lowering taxes, especially on corporations, will create more incentive to invest and create jobs.

"There's a lot of capital, billions and billions, tied up with corporations," he says.

This is not the first time that Buffett, a friend and donor to President Barack Obama, has used his personal tax bill - and those of his employees - to make the case that super-wealthy Americans are under-taxed.

In 2007, Buffett raised the issue at a fundraiser for then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguing that secretaries pay higher tax rates than their millionaire bosses and offering to pay $1 million to anyone who could prove him wrong.

Obama endorsed Buffett's views and said he hoped a bipartisan committee of 12 members of Congress would consider his proposals as it sets out to trim the federal budget gap by $1.5 trillion over 10 years.

The growing national debt is becoming a central issue as the 2012 presidential race heats up. Tribune Newspapers and staff writers David Perlmutt, Ely Portillo and Rick Rothacker contributed

Read more: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/08/18/2535256/under-taxed-charlottes-super-wealthy.html#ixzz1VNpRQJ1E

Geeze, imagine that, this guy that's a Republican thinks that freedom of speech is a bad thing unless it's another equally stupid Republican lying or saying something just as ignorant.

IN one sense at least, he is correct... The rich should have the honor and good sense to pay for what they get and what they are asked for is a mere pittance, and an insult to the intelligence of the masses... They should pay with their bank accountls or with their lives... They have driven this country to the brink, and have ridden for free... fck 'em

Che Fido!

You really are a silly putz



How old are you?

I would imagine that Buffet's is the first throat that Fido's Revolutionary Front will slit since, clearly, Buffet acknowledges he needs to contribute more to the Government, but keeps waiting for someone to make him.

Isn't that more despicable than a billionaire who truly believes he need not pay a penny for the masses?

Marx pointed out that capitalist demand laws that level the cost on all of them... I am not certain there was any public education until the government forced those who hired child labor to provide education to the employees which the youth readily took to as an opportunity for advancement... The miserable state of education in this country, and the reason our capitalists are so eager to import labor or export jobs is that they have thrown the entire cost of education on to the backs of people who cannot afford it, who can barely afford food, and offered them usary as a means of affording the college essential to advancement and success... Now; the jobs are begging for able, educated, and intelligent people and finding few who are prepared for the future... Now; some one, government or business should have been making certain people where getting the primary educations and the secondary educations they needed, and that ultimately the whole nation needs for its success... We cannot always be governed by the bottom line and the great desire of the rich to avoid responsibility... Rich people equal a poor society, and if the people are not brave enough to man handle their rich when the only impediment is their own avarice and futile dreams of riches beyond their wildest imaginings left untouched in perpetuity, then they do not have the guts of self government... You know it is a failing of this people and a terrible moral failing that we exhaust ourselves using what little democracy we are granted attacking and defending real civil rights while we leave privilages like property and wealth untouched or troubled... There is only one reason why any country should allow one to be rich while another is poor, and that is because they can see a general benefit for all in it... The general benefit should be seen in taxes that support all services and the military and police functions of the state... The rich should pay, and not to totally deny them the benefit and honors of an honorable wealth, but to give them the honor of support their society and helping us all toward greatness... Societies are dead when the commonwealth becomes privatewealth, and we are dying for that reason... Fck the rich if they do not understand it... Teach them with a gun barrel instead of a strap...