People like Buffett are not the ones who bear the largest burden though. Steve Jobs tool a $1.00 a year salary, but he received millions in compensation from Apple in other ways. The really rich can defer compensation and collect other forms of compensation. The people who end up paying are those just under 500K who are not rich enough to avoid the taxes, but even then they will structure compensation to their advantage. A lot of people in this income level are self-employed and can structure a world of tax exemptions through their company as well and pay themselves just under the limit.
This reminds me of the luxury tax placed on yachts back in the 1990's.
"Starting in 1991, Washington levied a 10 percent tax on cars valued above $30,000, boats above $100,000, jewelry and furs above $10,000 and private planes above $250,000. Democrats like Ted Kennedy and then-Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell crowed publicly about how the rich would finally be paying their fair share and privately about convincing President George H.W. Bush to renounce his 'no new taxes' pledge," the newspaper said in an editorial.
"But it wasn't long before even those die-hard class warriors noticed they'd badly missed their mark. The taxes took in $97 million less in their first year than had been projected — for the simple reason that people were buying a lot fewer of these goods. Boat building, a key industry in Messrs. Mitchell and Kennedy's home states of Maine and Massachusetts, was particularly hard hit. Yacht retailers reported a 77 percent drop in sales that year, while boat builders estimated layoffs at 25,000. With bipartisan support, all but the car tax was repealed in 1993, and in 1996 Congress voted to phase that out too. January 1 was disappearance day.
Buffett may say that rich people wont alter their habits to avoid taxes, but Buffett has been proven wrong by history on many occasions.
Buffett is also promoting Jamie Dimon (JP Morgan) as the next Sec. of the Treasury to replace "tax fraud" Timmy G. The only advice that Buffett gives that I listen to is how to profit from government regulations. He is the undisputed master.
Last edited by Winder; 11-27-2012 at 06:57 AM.