Buffett Says Corporate America Should Pay More Tax

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York

09 March 2004

Billionaire investment guru Warren Buffett has once again taken a swipe at President Bush's tax policies, reiterating his view that the recent tax cuts benefit the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the working and middle classes.

Buffett told the shareholders of his Berkshire Hathaway firm last weekend that the company's tax bill rose eleven-fold to $3.3 billion between 1995 and 2003, whilst the firm's profits rose ten-fold to $8.25 billion. However, he also highlighted the fact that the federal income taxes paid by all US firms in the same period fell by 16% to $132 billion.

The Berkshire Hathaway chairman observed that the firm's tax payment this year will "almost certainly" place it in the top ten US taxpayers.

"Tax breaks for corporations - and their investors, particularly large ones - were a major part of the administration's 2002 and 2003 initiatives," Buffett noted, adding that: "If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning."

He continued: "We hope our taxes continue to rise in the future - it will mean we are prospering - but we also hope that the rest of corporate America antes up along with us."

Buffett also pointed out that corporate tax revenues accounted for 7.4% of the country's tax receipts in 2003 - the lowest level in seventy years, with the exception of 1983.

At a Democratic Party Policy Committee lunch last year, Buffett described how the dividend tax cut would help reduce his tax bill by around $300,000, meaning that he would pay proportionately less tax than his secretary.

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