A Simple Solution for Mr. Buffett’s Tax Problem

by Kristina Rasmussen Warren Buffett recently took to the opinion pages of the New York Times to decry America’s unfair tax system. According to his calculations, his effective tax rate is around 17 percent while his the people in his office pay effective rates averaging 36 percent. His solution? Washington should hike his taxes. And yours, while they’re...

by Kristina Rasmussen

Warren Buffett recently took to the opinion pages of the New York Times to decry America’s unfair tax system. According to his calculations, his effective tax rate is around 17 percent while his the people in his office pay effective rates averaging 36 percent.

His solution? Washington should hike his taxes. And yours, while they’re at it. That’s where the real money is at, you see. According to AEI’s Arthur Brooks, “Even if individuals earning more than $200,000 were taxed at a 100 percent marginal rate—and we confiscated their passports so they could not flee—the take would come to $1.27 trillion, or just 77 percent of this year’s deficit.”

The good folks over at the Wall Street Journal included a graphic along with today’s editorial highlighting how IRS data shows people in the upper tax brackets actually pay higher rates. Or as they put it, “the claim that CEOs are routinely paying lower tax rates than their secretaries is Omaha hokum.”

Many people have suggested that if Mr. Buffett still feels so strongly about his “unfair” tax bill, he can write a check to the U.S. Treasury. Credit cards also accepted.

I’d suggest an alternative. Lower the effective tax rates for the people in his office — and for other Americans paying high taxes — to 17 percent. Let them benefit from the same lower rate from which he benefits.

Simple. Fair. Pro-growth.

Steve Moore went over the benefits of a flat income tax at the Illinois Jobs Tour Panel we spoke at together in Kankakee last Sunday. Get the general idea of his flat tax proposal in this classic Cato commentary, and stay tuned for more stops on the Illinois Jobs Tour in downstate Illinois.