Archive for December 14th, 2012

Bluster: Buffett says”increase taxes on estates” (since mine is sheltered).

December 14, 2012

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:

  1. “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.”
  2. 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.”
  3. “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?

(more…)