Buffet Rule Benefits Warren Buffet and his Elite Friends

Susanne Posel
Occupy Corporatism
April 18, 2012

 

 

 

Warren Buffet, the world’s second wealthiest man, is the champion of the Buffet Rule. The Obama administration is pushing this “rule” through Congress. If it were passed, Buffet would be the biggest beneficiary of this latest “bailout”. Obama’s “rule” is broken down as a tax-planning technique that limits the liability to corporations .

The taxpayers will be directly affected. David Miller, a partner at Cadwalader, Wickersham Taft LLP in New York, says that as long as taxpayers “tax plan” ahead, they will be able to avoid the hike in tax rates for all Americans that this “rule” will impose.

Basically, the wealthiest will benefit because they use “tactics” to reduce their tax payments while average Americans will have less deductions that help drive their tax rate downward.

If you make $2 million, you pay a minimum of 30%.

If you make between $1 and $2 million, there is a sliding scale for your tax rate.

Obama is pushing this Buffet Rule hard with a procedural vote on April 16, 2012. Republicans are expected to attempt to block the bill that contains the “rule” while Democrats claim this is a fair redistribution of wealth.

Capital gains and dividends will receive preferential treatment. Considering that capital gains and dividends are where these affluent Elite glean their sustained wealth from, it stands to reason that the Buffet Rule is a convoluted attempt to make ignorant Americans feel good about taxing the rich.

Although Buffet has not directly received federal aid, he has holdings in 28 corporations that have received more than 90% of the monies disbursed to financial firms by the $700 billion dollar Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

For example, Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway owns stock valued at more than $13 billion and is at the very top of the receivers of TARP funds. In October, Berkshire joined the ranks of Goldman Sachs Group, US Bancorp, American Express and Bank of America who all received TARP resources.

As the US government continues to pour cash into the coffers of these banks, Buffet’s stocks become more secured. He and the other shareholders of Berkshire have seen their stock prices are rising sharply; possibly in anticipation of the bailout the Buffet Rule would provide.

Richard Coppes, an expert in business ethics at the international law firm Jones Day, had this to say about Buffet’s stake in the bailouts:

“People can draw their own conclusions . . . but it shows one reason Buffet is so intensely interested in TARP.”

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes