Buffett Discloses $62,855,038 In 2010 Gross Income, $39,814,784 In Taxable Income, And $6,923,494 In Federal Taxes
Following a back and forth between Kansas Congressman Tim Huelskamp, we have now discovered what, according to Buffett, were the precise amounts of the Octogenarian Crony Capitalist of Omaha's 2010 gross income, taxable income and Federal tax respectively. These are as follows: $62,855,038, $39,814,784 and 6,923,494. This, apparently, was not enough for Huelskamp. The debate continues below.
Congressman Huelskamp Releases Response from Warren Buffett
(WASHINGTON) – In an open letter in September, Congressman Tim Huelskamp called on billionaire Warren Buffett to release the contents of his tax returns. Subsequently, Congressman Huelskamp told Neil Cavuto that he would release the contents of his own tax returns if Mr. Buffett would do the same. Congressman Huelskamp reiterated this additional promise to Mr. Buffett in a letter last week. Today, Congressman Huelskamp released the contents of the response he received from Mr. Buffett (available here).
After reading Mr. Buffett's inadequate response, Congressman Huelskamp said: "Mr. Buffett still refuses to release his tax returns. What he does disclose may be accurate, but it is incomplete and it fails to explain how he shelters millions of dollars in income from taxation. It is unprecedented that we would write an entire law based on one man's anecdotes without actual proof. By sheltering millions of dollars of income from taxation, probably through charitable giving, Mr. Buffett demonstrates that he doesn't trust Washington with his own money either."
"There are not many Americans who can maneuver the tax code in the way Mr. Buffett does. But, as I have said time and time again, there is no need for Mr. Buffett to wait on Congress or the President to change the tax code. If Mr. Buffett is truly concerned about paying his 'fair share' to the government, he is more than able to send voluntary contributions to President Obama and the rest of the federal government. Apparently he has not done so.
"I'm disappointed that my request to exchange tax returns was rejected. I guess Mr. Buffett still fears public disclosure – and my offer still stands."
And full response from Buttett:
h/t London Dude Trader
(4 votes)
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Just a hair over 11%. I wonder what his secretary's Effective Tax Rate is?? LMFAO!!
Americans have a moral obligation to pay their FAIR SHARE of money to the government for providing schools, bridges, roads, welfare for the poor and retirement plans for the elderly. Politicians do not have to provide these things, but they provide them anyway out of the kindness of their hearts. It is completely despicable that libertarians receive all these generous gifts from their government, but can do nothing but throw tantrums about how unfairly they are treated. It’s time for libertarians to stop whining and start giving something back to the community.
Either you're being completely sarcastic, or you're just another communist or socialist telling people you disagree with or an independent like me to pay "my" "fair share". Also, there is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that says it's the government's job to provide "welfare for the poor and retirement plans for the elderly".. at all.
Move to Somalia - a libertarian paradise.... no government so no taxes, no police, no roads, no ANYTHING.....
I bet you'd love the Dark Ages.
Finally some sanity on this blog. So true. What libertarians can't seem to understand (even though it has been demonstrated repeatedly) is that average people are simply not capable of interacting peacefully with each other. That is why we need a group of experts to COORDINATE activity for everyone else and FORCE them to do what they are told. Professional politicians are granted this right by their willingness to hold elections and offer other people an opportunity to vote for the expert of their choice. This is the core principle of democracy, and it is the dichotomy between the rights of talented leaders and the average citizen is the foundation of a free and moral society.
dude, you must be getting THE best weed available, because you are fucking high
Smokin' weed? I doubt it.
This dude is dropping LSD or magic shrooms.
Talented leaders? Exactly who are these magical beings. Are they Extraterrestrials from the planet DumbAss?
Obviously you've been taking one too many hits from Obama's hopium crack pipe.
If you put all the talented leaders flocking the Washington D.C. beltway under an ordinary microscope it would not be difficult to discern that they're all corrupt to the core.
And, yet, for some unknown reason you're unable to explain how and why our talented leaders not only in the US but in Europe have practically managed to destroy Western Civilization in less than 30 years and land us in a depression that will make the great depression look like child's play.
So, if it's possible, pull your lips off Obama's anal sphincter and learn what its like to breath fresh air.
Million Dollar Bonus is the Sean Colmes of this board. He has come here to make ridiculous arguments against pure libertarianism, to make what he really believes in -- pure libertarianism -- seem less silly. We are our government. We the people. This has been lost, but we must take it back. Giving it up in favor of individuals who can't understand the first thing about humanity, is insane.
MDB deals in trenchant sarcasm, little else.
HHAHAA, You guys who argue with MDB are suUUCKERS! He does it on purpose so you can get steamed up and waste time arguing with him. HAH.
Thanks for the Comedic relief MDB, but why is your focus completely on libertarians. Perhaps you should try libertines?
That is the key question-
There are an endless stream of trolls here on this blog, who use any thread to vent their bile against Libertarianism and freedom in general with less and less clever sarcasm. This isn't even a Libertarian blog per se anyway. Who are/is this troll? and from what Stygian pit do they crawl?
MDB: Your comment that a "group of experts" should "FORCE them to do what they are told" reminds me of a song named "Mr. Blue" and performed by Clear Light. I recommend that everyone listen to this song - it's on YouTube. My favorite line goes like this: "but never think again...that you can EVER think again." You have a headstart, I think. You give no indication of informed thinking.
If you were a contestant on "To Tell the Truth," your tag line would be either:
A: I am a smart 1960's hippie who was abducted and brainwashed by the Trilateral Commission, and then teleported 50 years into the future by the Illuminati to post on ZH.
Or B: I am a clone of Abbie Hoffman mixed with Joe McCarthy, and I somehow escaped from the government "lab."
@ cynicalskeptic: I'm not a libertarian and I have my own beliefs.. hence I'm an independent. I believe a limited federal government with smaller municipalities or states that have their own smaller governments are better in comparison than the size of our federal government and certain state governments we have now. A flat tax or maybe a low flat progressive tax is clearly better than no taxes. And yes duh, it's important to have the roads, the police, and even the "low" taxes.
@ MillionDollarFullRetard: A simple argument to turn yours on it's head is what happens if a super conservative or libertarian government rises into power and coordinates how much taxes you should pay or what you should do with your life. We have repetadly seen from time to time the groups of experts who "COORDINATE activity for everyone else" (They're called communists.. Think the former Soviet Union, North Korea, Cuba, Nazi Germany, China) that destroy freedoms and people's lives so they can exist for themselves and be on a higher level than everyone else.
To finish this.. in the United States we rarely get "experts" that get voted in and push through meaningful, non-negative non-socialst change that's benefits everyone. Most of those smart people actually have no desire to be in a divisive controversial profession. Also we live in a Constitutional Republic, not a democracy (for many reasons you might not like hearing).
You should think seriously about what you say when it comes to "people" (The lying cheating scumbags that become politicians in both political parties) "coordinating" (really, doing what's most convenient to the donors, getting re-elected, and giving just enough for the people to move on) activities for everyone else and "force them to do what they're told" (aka everyone doing what I tell them to do.. execpt for me, my family, my friends, and the scumbags/companies that keep me here for this purpose)
Don't feed trolls ...
I thought you two were doing sarcasm at first. Now you're just self serving idiots. Somalia is all about force, no rights, no courts, no law, just guns you morons. Governments are first and last about coercion. You just get to vote on who gets coerced and how much of other peoples' stuff they will give to you.
Experts! Ha, ha, ha! Experts in what? Engineering, space travel, metalurgy, plumbing, medicine, phyisics, psychology, parenting, soliciting prostitutes? Please. The typical centrally planned government figures they can run everything much like the average Somali tribal leader, actually.
The natural end of libertarian thought is voluntary interactions with the rule of common laws with equality before the law. It is the absense of coercion you morons. The natural end of your thought is some sort of dictatorship whether communist or the old oligarchies. The will always be some other problem and the government will write more laws, take more taxes, hire more inspectors, auditors and policing agencies until you can't move without government documents. Look, Obamacare comes with 16000 IRS agents! Need I say more? It's going to be wonderful.
Cant you see he's just having a laugh?, i cant believe anyone thinks he,s being serious!
Sarcasm, when written, is totally lost on totalitarians, statists, fascists and homosexuals.
Back for more discipline fro the ZH dominatrix are ya?
He should be ignored.
He is being sarcastic and some of his posts are pretty damn funny.
agreed. it's astounding many folks here can't see the humor. getting you all wound up is part of the fun.
Or, he actually believes the hallucinations he gets from drinking the Obummer koolaide.
He's a straw man. Like red meat to the Randers of ZH.
I'm a Ron paul/Buchanan conservative Libertarian. I don't like taxes -i think they all should be dramaticaly reduced -but as long as those bastards are owned by the Buffet gang, i know they will never reduce my taxes -and if mine can't be reduced -that asshole Buffet needs to pay his share. I say soak the phony fraud -and tax Lloyd Blankfein at a 101% rate -make him actually pay for every dollar he rips off the American public. These clowns aren't captains of Industry who create real wealth and jobs -they are speculators and frauds. Frankly, i think they all need a long stint in Guantanamo - daily waterboarding until they confess to all of their crimes and we flip them to roll over on the crooks on the Hill. Then a jury of their peers should decide if they should be executed.
By the way, i think the Occupy Wall Street gang are a bunch of pussies -when are they going to storm the police brigades and take over Goldman Sachs?
That is a typical spoiled brat libertarian comment. We OWE the government money because they were kind enough to provide us with so many gifts and necessities. I can hardly comprehend the selfishness that your rude and ungrateful comment demonstrates. This is one of the reasons there is so much poverty and conflict in the world. If people simply appreciated their governments more, we could move forward as a civilisation and not backward.
gifts?
such as?
everything i ask for would be and is provided by the free market
the govt steals tribute from me for things i havent asked for and generally dont need
pay for school and toll roads, a military we dont even actually NEED, overzealous cops i could do without
i'd happily pay a small sum to the volunteer fire department
i'm sure we could drum up small scale volunteer government too, that wouldnt overstep its mandate
you are so cracked out on so many levels its impossible to address them all
you can't get rid of government, but you can buy it to do what you want.
I guess the real question for MDB is what effective tax rate does he pay? What are MDB's deductions? If MDB is do any overpayment on income taxes does MDB always apply it to next year's taxes? OR, does MDB write a check to the Treasury every April 15th willing overpaying even though MDB might be eligible for a refund on overpayment of income taxes?
MDB talk's a lot of shit, but does MDB actually pay at or more than MDB's fair share? Or, is MDB exactly like Buffet, taking advantage of every tax loophole that can be found at the Federal and State level.
No, the real question is which one of you guys started posting as Million Dollar Bonus as an alter ego, in order to make your arguments seem less specious.
+1000
move along....his schtick gets old after a couple of weeks.......move along
here's just another communist learking here, working for the Faux Pres Barry Obama
Let's get this straight. Buffet only does what's in Buffett's best interest, ever.
Anything he says, he says because he wants something. I'm tired of hearing about him.
When Buffett kicks it, BTW, he will never have the emotional sendoff that Steve Jobs had..... Buffet is merely a financier and money whore. He never *created* anything with his time, never did anything great, and never will have any lasting impact.
I'm tired of hearing about this ol' scrouge McDuck.... he can drown in his own 'wealth' and 'fame'.
He's just a sorry old money whore. ...
i can't beiieve you got 16 +1's, and I'm the one who junked you... of course buffet only does what's in his best interest. you would to if you had .0000005% of his wealth... there is no way to compare buffet and jobs in any way. steve jobs didn't "create" anything. he built on something that was already there. thomas edison had +2,000 "real" patents. jobs is a dead fraud, and appe will die without him. sell aapl now. buffet's wealth will live on forever...
Junked for being an asswipe.
Of course he will be mourned. By the MSM at least. They have so many angles to play. The oracle of omaha, cherry coke and cheeseburgers, his friendship with Gates, advising politicians, bailing out the likes of Goldman and GE. CNBC could fill an hour with this drivel.
Bullshit!
Douche on the loose!
You havent used proper logic in ANY of your arguments......Moral obligations? so the govt doesnt have a MORAL obligation to properly spend tax revenue?
Politicians do not have hearts.....
libertarians recieve gifts, just as they pay TAXES....
time for libertarians to stop whining? its time for you to off yourself.....
LOL.
MDB FTW +(insert x=RAND#>100)!
If you want to pay more, then do so.
In fact, as a matter of good faith, that you practice what you preach, are not indeed a hypocryte, on behalf of all readers, I thus challenge you to contribute additional, substantitive, above and beyond the call of duty, greater than the minimum legally responsible tax to the Federal Government and display publicly upon the web, that you have done so.
In short, sir, we hereby request proof that you are an honorable man of principle.
Should you not demonstrate such, cease and desist any further postings.
A simple enough challenge. I give you an opportunity to demonstrate the quality of your character.
No, its not the kindness of the lying politicians, its the kindness of the taxpayer. All for the benefit of the politician. Welfare has kept the poor ignorant, unmotivated and poor for the purpose of vote buying. Same with SS that has been expanded in purpose without concomitant increase in funding taxes. Something for nothing, the life blood of vote buying over spenders. You are a dunce of the worst kind. Go back to OWS, they are your kind of clueless, too.
check your math. 11% rate on TAXABLE.
Okay since I didn't show my work (and you're obviously the one who can't do math)...
$6,923,494/$62,855,038 (Gross Income) = 0.11015... or 11% of Gross Income was paid intaxes. And since you brought up Taxable vs. Non-taxable.. He paid 17.4% on his taxable earnings. Please don't make me show that work too. Slapping you once is enough.
jarboejl
Yeah, dats whut de figures say...........
But,w/a $23+B in write off's..........that 17.4 ain't sheeeeut.
He's made that 17.4% back off the write offs before he even sent the return in.
Rich people's secret is never having an income....but gain wealth through asset growth.
Hold Coca Cola until he dies and hand it over to the foundation tax free. Capital gains never get taxed when you don't cash in.
It is like having a gold brick all your life and then handing it over to your kids. IRS isn't going to check your gold brick purchase 50 years from now so they won't know. you never sold it, so you never get taxed.
Can't eat asset growth.
That is why they show zero income. Here we go again
It's even worse than that.
It's not just the asset appreciation: the dividends are capital gains as well. So you can keep reinvesting dividends back in equity and never pay a dime over a 15% rate.
or if one merely exchanged the brick outside of the dollar fiat system...
why did he earn so little this yr? seems pretty low for the guy considering how much cash he has???!
His secretary has more reportable income :D
short brk
http://covert3.wordpress.com
http://expose2.wordpress.com
$23 million donated to obama's reelection campaign
As a guy who paid almost 40% in state and federal taxes last year I resent anyone who pays lower percentages, advocates yet higher taxes and fails to donate large sums from their own treasury first to prove their true belief in the efficiency and efficacy of government. The wealthy like Buffett can afford both the deductions and sophisticated professionals to dodge the taxes.
The average citizen is armed with nothing more than TurboTax or H&R Block tax preparers.
I have a relative in China. They pay lower and simpler tax rates in communist countries than we do in our "free" country. Anything wrong with that picture?
Modern liberals are profound liars and generally tax cheats, a.k.a. Geithner, Kerry, Rangel, Frank, etc.
I got the solution. Stop paying taxes =)
Occupy Omaha!
Hey, it's all legal.
Warren won't be able to take it with him, though, when his body returns to the dust from which it came.
He should go take a dirt nap.
And leave all his money to the U.S. Treasury which will fund it for about 12 minutes.
low effective tax rate bitchez!
"It's all in the game."
-Omar
Great quote, I miss that show.
They can keep their money. I want a pound of flesh per year from the uber-wealthy.
The difference is that Murdoch is not dishing out sanctimonious opinion on tax rates. Buffet is. So it's Buffet who should put up or shut up. It's nothing to do with Murdoch.
Murdoch in not putting out sanctimonious anything!! All he humbly does is break every privacy law know to man w/ bribes to get the cover of his newspaper, but that seems to be ok w/ everybody?
Lets see...... Billion dollar empire unduly influencing politics in England the US and Australia (check)
Completely irrelevant fine when one of his employees gets nailed for breaking the law (check)
How do I sign up for this, I mean the billion dollar empire which pays irrelevant fines for breaking the law?
Become a Primary Dealer *or* run for Congress.
super rich buys primary dealers (goldman sachs and bank of america purchase), and buys congress by political bribes.
why work when you got money?
2.3% muni income on $100bil. big whoop. and it's 17% on his taxable income (not 11% "jarboejl")
This guy for president
The Oracle of Hypocrisy.
Obama negates the rule of law and stiffs the bond holders for the benefit of UAW.
But when it comes to rail unions, Obama intervenes on the side of management/Buffett to prevent a strike.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/07/us-usa-railroads-obama-idUSTRE7957IB20111007
Talks between 11 unions representing more than 80,000 workers and a group overseeing negotiations for CSX Corp, Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific and Burlington Northern Santa Fe -- owned by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc -- faltered in September.
More than two dozen smaller railroads are also involved in the negotiations and a strike could have begun on Friday if the White House had not acted.
Which rule of law did he violate in favor of the UAW? I don't agree with what he did, but I am not aware of any law that was broken. Enlighten me.
He wants to pay more taxes.. write a check and ship it to the DOD
People still don't get it. Money MEANS NOTHING. All it is is permission to get your needs taken care of for doing what someone else wants. He cares about how many thousands of gallons of orange juice and hundreds of dozens or croisant to order for the next shareholder meeting. If you give the government twice as much money they will pay sick fucks twice as much to poison the population and develope weapons of mass destruction. Money doesn't mean one damn thing until someone who wants to serve something takes it to work towards a goal.
The only way to decentralize the system is for armed robbery to become mega popular.
Hephasteus ,
And right you are.
Two scenarios, commit questionable manslaughter/murder.
Get manslaughter uno,maybe 7yrs, w/good behaviour.
Steal $10,000.00 from ANY FDIC Treserve,and you will get 20yrs......................no parole,no good time off.
Shows exactly where our gubs priorities lie.
While Fed agencies investigate celebrity hacking.....
lets give old Uncle Warren what he wants. Pass a one time tax on Warren Buffett of 99% of everything he owns. He would still be a millionaire after that tax. That should make him feel much better.
Bad tax attorneys... 11% is way too high
My guess is that the tax attorneys are fucking brilliant for figuring out a way to make it appear that he pays 11%, and not 3 or 4%.
You have solved it!
Warren sez, No tax returns for you!
Buffett's a buffoon.
The taxes papa Buffett pays within Berkshire Hathaway for his portion of dividend income taken from the company needs to be disclosed as well to get his real tax rate. I doubt his real tax rate is that low. If he proved all of that income was wages, not dividends I would believe him. He just fails to discuss how much dividend tax Berkshire pays on his behalf.
Edit: I see that Berkshire doesn't pay a dividend. However, I would assume Buffett has more that just his investment in BH personally. He can distort the tax he pays on his 1040 easily by having ownership in other companies.
It wouldn't matter, because qualified dividends are taxed at 15% max rate since 2003.
Yeah, but seriously--it's not like you can increase the amount Buffett pays, anyway. That'd be class warfare. He has to pay at a lower rate because the rich folks already pay the majority of the income taxes. It wouldn't be fair to expect a similar effective rate.
Probably I'd maybe say we shouldn't even require the rich to file, because it takes away from the time they'd normally be creating jobs. Even just drafting up that letter he sent to that Senate guy probably prevented some jobs from being created.
Now if Congressman Huelskamp could only coax Buffett's secratary to disclose hers...
hers what?
I think it is immoral for the government (Federal, State, and Local combined) to take more than 10% of anyone's income. Warren paid 11% - more than his fair share.
The issue isn't that "the rich" should be paying a greater percent, the issue is that many of the rest of us should be paying less.
Nothing here that a 10% Federal flat tax (with 100% deduction for State and Local taxes paid) wouldn't solve.
"the issue is that many of the rest of us should be paying less."......
You mean like the bottom 50% who pay NO federal income tax right now? Or how about those that not only dont pay any federal income tax, but get an earned income credit--they pay NEGATIVE tax?!?
"... but get an earned income credit..."
THANK YOU Ronald Reagan!