Buffet to Teabaggers: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

Warren Buffet is the second richest man in America, with a net worth of some $45 billion. He has an opinion piece in August 15′s New York Times in which he calls on Congress to stop coddling the super-rich.

Buffet wrote:

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

The current tax code is a sucker bet. If you are rich, and can earn money from money, you get a tax rate of about 17%. If you are a wage slave like WC, and earn money by the sweat of your brow or just by sweat period, you pay taxes at the rate of about 36%.

If you think that’s fair, WC has an investment opportunity for you involving Cushman Street Bridge in downtown Fairbanks…