por admin » Jue Oct 13, 2011 7:05 pm
391,000 Americanos ganaron mas de $1 millon, mas de 300,000 de ellos son duenios de negocios, o sea son creadores de empleos. Ellos pagaron 22.2% de impuestos federales comparados con el 9% de impuestos que pagaron los que ganan entre $50,000 y $100,000.
REVIEW & OUTLOOKOCTOBER 14, 2011.The Buffett 391,000
The billionaire's latest tax argument
Jousting with Warren Buffett is always fun, and our recent exchange has been no exception. The Oracle of Higher Taxes is giving us another chance to educate the public about tax equity and economic growth.
Mr. Buffett never did return our September phone call inviting him to release his income tax return to buttress his claim that he pays tax at a lower rate than his secretary. But he seems to have got the message because he has now shown a little more financial leg in response to a Congressman who cited our request—albeit while pulling a political bait and switch.
In an October 11 letter to Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp, Mr. Buffett disclosed that his adjusted gross income was $62.855 million, his taxable income was $39.815 million, and he paid $6,923,494 in income taxes and another $15,300 in payroll taxes. This confirms his tax rate of roughly 17.4%, which no one doubted. The point was to learn precisely why he made so much income but paid so little tax—so Americans can better understand how a billionaire avoids the taxman with such flair. He's still keeping all of that a secret.
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Mary Kissel on Warren Buffett's taxes and argument for increasing taxes on the rich.
..The real news in his letter is that Mr. Buffett has changed his argument for soaking the rich. The billionaire now justifies his claim by pointing out that in 2008 the 400 highest-income Americans paid only a 21.4% tax rate on an average of $227 million in income. He calls these the "favored 400," which suggests he might have had a bright career as a political phrase-maker.
But hold on there, Mr. NetJets owner. Only weeks ago Mr. Buffett was saying that Americans who earned more than $1 million should pay higher taxes. And that's a lot more than 400 people.
The IRS reports that in 2007 roughly 391,000 taxpayers reported income exceeding $1 million, and more than 300,000 of those had business income and met the Treasury Department's definition of business owner. In other words, they are the economy's main job creators. By the way, those millionaires paid an average tax rate of 22.2% in 2007, compared to the average rate of 9% paid by those earning between $50,000 and $100,000.
Our point is that, rather like any clever politician, Mr. Buffett points to the tax returns of a mere 400 to justify a tax increase on hundreds of thousands of Americans who aren't nearly as rich. Since President Obama's tax increase would hit filers who make only $200,000 a year, Mr. Buffett is lending his credibility to raise taxes on millions of the nonrich.
Intriguingly, President Obama's favorite stock picker also discloses that the people in his office earn between $60,000 and $1 million a year and thus pay an average tax rate "in the 30s." We'd guess that most of those are in the higher end of that income range, which means they'd also be "millionaires" under Mr. Obama's definition.
The current, and much-loathed, Alternative Minimum Tax passed in 1969 after a similar political campaign against a mere 115 millionaires who had paid no income tax in 1967. Now the AMT applies to millions of middle-class Americans each year. Mr. Buffett is using 400 taxpayers to try to stick millions of Americans with another minimum
tax.