Warren Buffett's Company Hasn't Paid All Taxes Owed In Years, Media Mum
By Noel Sheppard | August 29, 2011 | 17:28
Two weeks ago, when billionaire Warren Buffett called for higher taxes on rich people like him, the liberal media predictably gushed and fawned.
Yet when Americans for Limited Government revealed last week that Buffett's company Berkshire Hathaway has been in an almost decade-long dispute with the IRS over how much taxes it owes, these same press members couldn't care less:
According to Berkshire Hathaway’s own annual report — see Note 15 on pp. 54-56 — the company has been in a years-long dispute over its federal tax bills.
According to the report, “We anticipate that we will resolve all adjustments proposed by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (‘IRS’) for the 2002 through 2004 tax years at the IRS Appeals Division within the next 12 months. The IRS has completed its examination of our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2005 and 2006 tax years and the proposed adjustments are currently being reviewed by the IRS Appeals Division process. The IRS is currently auditing our consolidated U.S. federal income tax returns for the 2007 through 2009 tax years.”
Americans for Limited Government researcher Richard McCarty, who was alerted to the controversy by a federal government lawyer, said, “The company has been short-changing the tax collection agency for much of the past decade. Mr. Buffett’s company has not fully settled its tax bills from 2002-2009. Yet he says he’d happily pay more. Except the IRS has apparently been asking him to pay more going on nine years.”
Imagine for a moment if nine days after Donald Trump or the Koch Brothers penned an op-ed in the New York Times wherein they pointed fingers at people for not paying their "fair share" of taxes it was revealed that one of their companies had been fighting with the IRS over taxes its owed since 2002. You think the media would have been interested in such a story?
Probably as much as a faux pas by Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann, right?
Yet Google News and LexisNexis searches have identified that since the ALG piece was published last Wednesday, the only major media outlet to reveal Buffett's hypocrisy was the New York Post Monday.
Other than that, not a word about this on television or in print.
It seems blatant hypocrisy from rich Obama supporters isn't newsworthy.
I wonder why.
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Comments
We knew this was coming Noel.
Submitted by rbosque on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:43pm.
We knew this was coming Noel. Jeff Imelt-syndrome.
yet another lying hypocritical dumbacrat
Submitted by right of way on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:51pm.
and the lame stream media will cover for him as well.
If he had?
Submitted by desert3030 on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 5:55pm.
If he had any nads he would write a check and say I am comfortable with this. But you won;t hear David Gregory, Rachel the Witch, or Sgt Ed say he is fighting the IRS.
Next will be Nbc and MSNBC capign...he over paid.
Buffett's hypocrisy
Submitted by blakeNaustin on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:01pm.
Buffett needs to put up and shut up. What a hypocrite.
write a check...
Submitted by RightofRush on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:26am.
Ben Affleck didn't waste any time explaining his credentials for talking politics Monday morning.
"We have a president who has given enormous tax breaks, frankly, to people like me," he told the Florida delegation at a breakfast meeting. "Trust me: I don't need the money.
Liberals are never hypocrites!
Well there you go!
Submitted by Newsbubba on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:00pm.
Old Warren was telling the truth when he said that he wasn't paying enough tax!
Hypocritical old bastard.
Like
Submitted by stratman on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:20pm.
+1
Good point!
Submitted by Injest on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 10:54pm.
Good point!
I didn't even think of this, “that he hadn't paid his taxes” when he said he wasn't paying enough.
Guess now he's qualified to take over Tiny "turbo tax" Tim's job!
Question
Submitted by jaywl on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:13pm.
It is apparent these two powerful men are involved in a mutual admiration affair and have no fear that news like this will affect them at all. Do they think the story will not come out? Do they believe the media will "soften" the edges to make it palatable? The answer, in my humble opinion, is these two men are engaged in a damning, mutually rewarding relationship and the payoff is so important to both of them that they simply don't care if the news surfaced. And-- this shows they have contempt for the American people based on the reasons they don't think the people will respond.
He learned tax preparation from Tim Geithner.
Submitted by drsamherman on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:24pm.
And accounting from Charlie Rangel.
Know what Berkshire Hathaway closed at today?
Submitted by SickofLibs on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:35pm.
$109,340. ONE SHARE.
That's sickening
Submitted by jon_torlin on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 6:45pm.
Now that just makes me sick to my stomach.
One freaking share that costs three times of what I make in a year.
-Jon
Really, Jon-E-Boy??? Can you
Submitted by killa37 on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 4:02am.
Really, Jon-E-Boy??? Can you lend me a 20-spot for gas and some lunch???
Yes ,I want to pay higher taxes
Submitted by peteydee on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 7:31pm.
Whoops,my company hasn't paid taxes in how long?
So, Berkshire Hathaway is in a long tax dispute . . .
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 10:00pm.
. . . with the IRS, and Buffett cozies up to Obama. In addition to stating that the fat cats like him need to pay more taxes, he hosts a fundraising dinner for the Prez ($10,000 - $ 38,000 a plate).
Surprise? No. It's quid pro quo.
Figures
Submitted by Barack Must Go on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 8:04pm.
Figures
Uh, just because you think
Submitted by balboa on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 8:25pm.
Uh, just because you think the super rich should pay more in taxes doesn't automatically mean you go ahead and let the government erroneously charge you.
Who said the IRS over charged them?
Submitted by Galvanic on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 10:07pm.
These tax battles typically rage over legitimacy of deductions claimed. The corporations try to squeeze items through loopholes and the IRS challenges it.
Even more rationale for going to a flat tax.
Same difference.
Submitted by balboa on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 10:07pm.
Same difference.
Actually, no....
Submitted by loxmyth on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 11:28pm.
... it's not the same. Buffett complained that his tax rate was less than his secretary. This could only be true if one of three things is true: 1) His secretary is grossly over paid and makes considerably more than he does, 2) He under reported his income by a whole lot, or 3) He made use of tons of deductions that his secretary was either unable to use, or was unaware of. #1 seems highly unlikely, and would hardly prove his point. So, either 2 or 3 are the more likely scenarios. If he wants to pay his fair share, he doesn't even need to make a voluntary contribution, just either correctly report his income, as his secretary does, or stop paying some accountant to find every deduction, and stop trying to squeeze those deduction that are questionable ... the ones that the IRS may call foul on ... the ones you and i would never even consider. These questionable deductions aren't the govt trying to take more than it is due, it's this company trying to not pay it's fair share ... the same fair share the big boss claims he is willing to pay.
Buffet and his secretary
Submitted by Denny Crane on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:22am.
The way he came to that conclusion was that he was talking about every single tax that she pays compared to his federal taxes.
To get to the 30 or 35% that she supposedly pays compared to his 17%, it included sales tax, property tax, cellphone taxes, waterbill taxes, Automobile registration taxes, gasoline taxes, soda can taxes and all the other stupid little pennies that the government fanagles out of us. Where his 17% is basically 15% dividends and 2% of his income on all those "little" taxes.
We Are The 53%
Prolly...
Submitted by retrocon on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 11:08am.
Probably rolling through stock... likely that long term capital gains taxes are probably all he pays (15%), then take deductions from there, add in state and local.
His admin probably pulls down 250k a year, easy.
So, it's apples and oranges
Submitted by Galvanic on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 2:20pm.
For his secretary to pay in the highest Federal income tax rate, he/she would have to earn over $174,000 (if single) or $200,000+ (if married). As was posted earlier, that's a lot of $$$ for a secretary, and that's before deductions for home mortgage interest, etc.
If Buffett was throwing in ALL the taxes his secretary pays while only counting his Federal income tax, he is a bigger BS'er than I imagined.
Hardly.
Submitted by drsamherman on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:45am.
He just invested $5 billion in Bank of America and he doesn't have enough cash to pay his taxes? He can more than afford to hire a few hundred sharp tax attorneys to settle with the IRS in any tax dispute tomorrow morning.
If he wants to pay more in taxes, NOTHING stops him from filing a 1040 with zero deductions and paying more than he would otherwise have to in terms of the myriad of deductions available to him. Nothing prevents him from making a voluntary donation of billions of dollars to the US Treasury for deficit and/or debt relief. You blame this man's blatant hypocrisy on the IRS when it squarely is his issue. Nobody told him he had to take all of those deductions. If he were so morally opposed to lower taxes on billionaires, why did he transfer over $30 billion of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation? Why didn't he give it directly to the federal government that he so publicly endorses? In a psychiatric evaluation, his arguments for higher taxes for rich people sound more like what we used to call a guilt complex. Nothing keeps him from assuaging his conscience by writing a check.
Between him and the idiot movie stars who keep complaining that they have more money to pay taxes yet do NOT, these rich hypocrites feel compelled to have everyone else pay a "fair share" except them. I don't notice many of them voluntarily giving money to the federal government. Until they put up, they can shut up.
letting the government erroneously charge?
Submitted by Hoosier Conservative on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 7:20am.
Do you have evidence that that's what happened here? Or are you just Buffett's side?
Evidence?
Submitted by The Vet on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 7:24am.
The cop killer lover needs nothing in the way of evidence before slinging around charges. It is what he does best.
Bail out!
Submitted by aposematic on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 9:21pm.
I feel another stimulus to bail out these elite financiers is in the works--Obumbo, the Democrats, and the LSM Pundits have already been pushing for another one. Apparently, they and their elite sycophants on the receiving end of the tit know they will loose big in 2012, and are out to steal as much of the American peoples' money as possible before getting kicked out of power.
that smell
Submitted by jimtrees on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 9:31pm.
In the picture on this artical, it looks like Goback is smelling something. Was it a fart or a dirty rat?
Wouldn't you love to ask....
Submitted by LoosMoose on Mon, 08/29/2011 - 11:54pm.
Wouldn't you LOVE to walk on camera and ask Mr. Buffet, "If you are so much in favor of paying higher taxes.... why is it your companies spend millions of dollars each year on accountants, and law firms (not lawyers, entire FIRMS) doing everything possible to REDUCE your tax bill? Buffet et al, pays more each year to attorneys than he does in taxes. THAT is why he can say higher taxes are proper... because HE won't be paying them.
The statement that "grandpa"
Submitted by jdhawk on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 12:30am.
The statement that "grandpa" Buffett made that he pays less taxes than his secretary does, is BS. He chooses to pay less because he is a wealthy corporate owner that can dictate how he is to be paid. Like Jobs at Apple, he could opt to be paid $1 a year. Yet, Buffett like Apple brings in millions if not billions each year. However, my bet is that all the money is in form of capital gains. Capital gains are taxed at 15%. So, it is true that he pays less on a percentage basis than his secretary. However, he could just as easily opt to be paid a straight salary. In that case, his tax rate would be somewhere in the neighborhood of 37%.
Yet, he made that statement about his secretary because he knew that a fawning media would let him get away with it. And, they unquestionally did so.
By the way, if you think that high wage earners are the answer to runaway spending, think again. If those that earn over 10 million dollars a year, about 8300 people, were to give up 100% of their salary to the federal government it would only amount to about 240 billion dollars. Note, this year's deficit will be 1.4 trillion dollars.
Massive reductions in spending is the answer. As we can see from the 17 countries in Europe, more taxes only prolongs the inevitable - bankruptcy.
Warren's "Buffet"?? That's Right, Your TAX DOLLARS!!!!
Submitted by Motormouth KOS on Tue, 08/30/2011 - 1:20pm.
I said it last week in this space..
This charlatan is pimping President Downgrade's "economic policies" because Barry is such a dope he doesn't know he is getting violated.
Buffet has gone from icon to buffoon. A phony. An opportunist and a poser.
What is the difference between this liar and "Gorge" Soros? Not much, I say.
That's his new name. Bring the rain people, he shall now be known as
Warren Buffoon
The Obamination... A crisis leading to a catastrophe..(please donate to MRC)
In the picture on this
Submitted by bagtree on Thu, 03/29/2012 - 2:24am.
In the picture on this artical, it looks like Goback is smelling something. Was it a fart or a dirty rat?
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