OK, he really didn’t say the last part.
According to CNBC, Warren Buffett is one of several dozen wealthy people who have signed a statement calling for a “strong tax on large estates.”
Buffett & friends say:
- “Dynastic wealth, the enemy of a meritocracy, is on the rise. Equality of opportunity has been on the decline. A progressive and meaningful estate tax is needed to curb the movement of a democracy toward a plutocracy.”
- We (the wealthy) have “benefited significantly” by government investments in schools, infrastructure. and public safety, among other things, so it is “right morally and economically” to have a “significant” tax on large estates because it “promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power.”
- “It is right to have a significant tax on large estates when they are passed on to the next generation … it is right morally and economically, since an estate tax promotes democracy by slowing the concentration of wealth and power.”
OK, so what constitutes a sizable estate and how much of it should the government take?
