Comment on The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 weeks ago
Warren Buffet is hypocritical piece of shit.
No one among the 25 wealthiest avoided as much tax as Buffett, the grandfatherly centibillionaire. That’s perhaps surprising, given his public stance as an advocate of higher taxes for the rich. According to Forbes, his riches rose $24.3 billion between 2014 and 2018. Over those years, the data shows, Buffett reported paying $23.7 million in taxes.
That works out to a true tax rate of 0.1%, or less than 10 cents for every $100 he added to his wealth.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
My “true tax rate” is a low single digit number too, if you measure it the same way, and I make ~$50k a year.
It’s extremely disingenuous to talk about taxes paid as a percentage of income, and as a percentage of total wealth/net worth, in the same breath.
It’s also extremely disingenuous to say someone is ‘avoiding tax’ by not paying tax on their unrealized gains in net worth. He doesn’t OWE any tax on that. NOBODY in the US does.
AlotOfReading@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Normal people regularly owe taxes on unrealized gains. That’s what property tax increases are.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Not sure what point you were trying to make here, lol. There is no type of unrealized gain that “normal people” are taxed on (federally or otherwise), but Buffett isn’t.
AlotOfReading@lemmy.world 1 week ago
I had hoped the point would be pretty obvious. Most people’s homes represent a significant part of their net worth, often a majority of their assets. The unrealized gains on that are taxed.
Billionaires generally (are there even any counterexamples?) do not have the majority of their net worth stored in assets that are taxed the same way. It’s a meaningful difference.
ShaggySnacks@lemmy.myserv.one 2 weeks ago
Nothing steps Warren Bufffet from taking an income instead of relying upon their wealth.
damnedfurry@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
He does take an income ($100k, very modest compared to others even in the same company: …yahoo.com/…/why-warren-buffett-only-gets-1747309… ).
And why shouldn’t he continue to own things that are becoming more valuable over time, exactly?