What? Ask for Warren Buffett's Tax Forms, and MSNBC Calls You a 'Buffett Birther'
Republicans have suggested that if billionaire Warren Buffett is going to be the basis of a "Buffett rule" of taxation, then it would seem obvious that perhaps Buffett should be asked to display his tax returns. If he's going to be the exemplar of class inequities, he should lay his taxes on the table. On Thursday night, MSNBC had a mysterious new term for this demand: "Buffett birther."
It has nothing to do with Buffett's birth certificate, but with his tax returns, but don't bother radical-left Georgetown professor Michael Eric Dyson with demands for precision. He guest-hosted the Ed Show on MSNBC Thursday night, and launched his lame new term:
SEN. JOHN CORNYN: Well, if he`s going to be the gold standard, so to speak, in terms of what our tax policy should be, yes, let`s look at them.
DYSON: That was Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas talking about billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Cornyn is part of a growing chorus of Buffett birthers, demanding to see Buffett's tax returns. Buffett has been calling for a tax hike on the mega-wealthy because -- well, they can afford it. The so-called Buffett Rule has been a focal point of President Obama`s new plan to increase revenues by taxing the super rich. That doesn`t sit too well with the ultra right wing.
SEN. JIM DEMINT: I would love to see Buffett`s tax returns so we can see what he`s really doing, because he`s kind of operating in the dark here, making some claims.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think he's going to release them?
CORNYN: I don`t think so.
DYSON: Come on, guys. Warren Buffett's actual tax return is irrelevant to the central point that many wealthy individuals pay a lower overall percentage in taxes than some middle class wage earners. Whether he publicly releases them or not, Buffett`s claim has been fact-checked as true.
Earlier on Thursday night, Chris Matthews was thrilled with Professor "Buffett Birther" on Hardball:
DYSON: Yes, the income is still a great disparity, but the wealth gap is astonishing. It`s a travesty of economic justice. It shows you that the crisis in housing really led to the greatest bleed-off of black wealth in the history of this nation.
MATTHEWS: So smart.
As usual, like Julian Bond, Dyson is demanding that Obama overcome his fear of the right wing and start showering some government cash on the blacks:
We understand the reluctance to target African-Americans, because of the fear that the right wing will exploit any attention paid to African American people as somehow some racial gerrymandering....But I think the reality is, is that 16.7 percent unemployment and this wealth gap suggests that there are targeted programs that can be done in the name of democratic procedures to help American citizens.
- Tim Graham's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
LOL -- those silly lefties
Submitted by MinneMike on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 10:22pm.
Too funny. The minds of these lefties....
Dyson is just like the vacuum cleaner.
Submitted by drsamherman on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 10:27pm.
And you know what a vacuum cleaner does with dirt.
Come on, guys. Warren Buffett's actual tax return is irrelevant
Submitted by phryingphish on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 10:32pm.
That like Wayne Gacy saying that murderers should be given the death penalty, "But don't look in my basement!"
Hmm these moronic liberals can't even get their condemnations
Submitted by gmaniac1 on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 10:34pm.
straight. A guess if a cop pulls Obama over for speeding and asks him for his license all of a sudden the cop is a "birther." Great logic numnuts!
MSNBC Is Just Fulfilling Its Mission To Protect Liars
Submitted by Avitar on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:53am.
A cop who pulled Obama over for doing 90 in a school zone is a racist. The constitution makes the President the chief of law enforcement officials. He is literally above the law or the law means nothing.
Only the Congress or a Constitutional Convention can drag Obama out of the Whitehouse legally before his term ends in January 2013. If we have to resort to force to remove him after the election he will have taken a long way down the road that Rome traveled.
Yes, by all means, us 'white
Submitted by ant on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 10:41pm.
Yes, by all means, us 'white folk' have been 'showered with government cash' for so long now, it's only fair. Uh....by the way...what exactly is government cash and how did they earn it?
"Wasted Away Again In Moronville"...
Submitted by bigdaddy on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 11:05pm.
...I want this dithering old jackass to pay his back taxes before he starts spouting advice. It's only fair that the millionaires and billionaires pay the backtaxes that they owe just like a teacher or a fireman or a secretary would have to pay...
oh boy
Submitted by kata on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 11:14pm.
His tax return might prove he's a liar but it won't change the Tax the Rich mentality. We have a TAX CHEAT as Secretary of Treasury. Hellooooo...
Well, the guy makes a ton of
Submitted by killa37 on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 11:42pm.
Well, the guy makes a ton of money, and he's constantly flapping his jaws about guys like himself NOT paying their 'fair share', and his company is in negotiations with the IRS about how much they owe (hell, the IRS has NEVER given me that option!!),
so why can't we take a look-see at his own returns, and see how he's handled his deductions and contributions and charities and write-offs and the rest of it............and see what it all comes out to??? And let's see if he's voluntarily paid 'his fair share' to the government, who he thinks should be taxing guys like him at a higher rate!!! I'll bet he hasn't!!!!
Contrary to popular belief
Submitted by Tom1969ca on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:39am.
...there is no federal "Tax Me More" box to check (although a GOP congressman proposed allowing for it in 2008). Eight states have Tax Me More funds, but Buffett's Nebraska isn't one of them. That having been said, taking a peek at Buffett's tax returns would tell us all we need to know - if he think he should be paying more in taxes, then if he claims so much as a single deduction doing so makes him a hypocrite.
(As an aside, Huckabee has noted that from 2001 to 2005, Arkansas' "Tax Me More Fund" garnered a grand total of $2,077 in voluntary contributions from 56 people -- which means that, on average, even those fair-minded folks thought that the government had only undertaxed them by about $37 over a four-year period ... )
You don't have to check a box, just send a check.
Submitted by Par for the Course on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 7:39am.
From the instructions for form 1040, on page 88:
Seems easy enough. Write a check and enclose it with your income tax return.
We could have lot of fun with this.
Submitted by CO2Maker on Sun, 09/25/2011 - 11:56pm.
Lefties who want rich people to pay more taxes are "buffins." If they want to see your paycheck or tax return, they're "stub buffins."
Mock them to death. They've done all that "denier" and "birther" stuff. Give it back to them. Call 'em buffins here, on Fox, on Hot Air and DC Caller, everywhere ... and keep it up until it's a universal joke line.
Move along
Submitted by Brad90956 on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:14am.
DYSON: "Come on, guys. Warren Buffett's actual tax return is irrelevant..."
Just like with Solyndra...move along, nothing to see here.
The left shouldn't be
Submitted by rbosque on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:50am.
The left shouldn't be protesting if they were honest. One would think that they would also like to know if he is indeed paying his "fair share". If not, they just don't want to know if an Obama supporter is telling a lie. (Like THAT never happens.)
Coining terms
Submitted by Chris Norman on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:56am.
Liberals do excel at coining terms designed to shut down conservative dissent, don't they? If they had their way, nothing could be said, discussed, or questioned - beyond what they want to say, of course.
Iron Curtain of Obstruction and Stupidity
Submitted by gideonmjames on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 4:08am.
That great intellectual heavyweight Mike Dyson ... where's a good solid city bus doing 60 when you need it? Every time a liberal speaks an iron curtain of obstruction and stupidity descends.
I think he may be insane
Submitted by DontFeedTheTrolls on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 5:29am.
Dyson is what I call a 'believer'.
He believes Obama had a 4.0 GPA without ever seeing a single transcript.
He believes Buffett pays less in taxes than his secretary without seeing any proof.
He believes all whites are racist, and no black can ever be racist.
He believes all TEA Party members are racist, fascist, homophobic, sexist, ageist, loons.
Rules on MSNBC
Submitted by c5then on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 8:22am.
1) Youu are not allowed 1o question any assertion made by a liberal. If they say it's true then it is and we have to take them at their word. Any attempt to get proof is a conspiracy theory.
2) All conservative claims are lies and must be treated as such. Any documented evidence that shows otherwise is to be discredited and/or ignored.
3) in the event of evidence undermining a left-wing claim, see rule #1.
Madison and Jefferson and Franklin built a Republic - Roberts killed it!
I want to see Barry's
Submitted by jessieH on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 9:52am.
I want to see Barry's records, not Buffett's. I say Barry is a phony, an imposter. Forget about his birth certificate, I want to see his school records. I don't believe he went to college. Nobody goes to college to become a community organizer.
A lot of pandering has been
Submitted by WestHoustonGeo on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 10:05am.
A lot of pandering has been lavished on this idea that Warren Buffett pays lower tax rates than his secretary. He claims that he pays only 15% and his secretary pays 25%.
It’s simply not true. I shall explain.
In this example,
1. Warren buys shares of ACME Corporation. That’s the company that makes all those gadgets used by Wylie Coyote in his attempts to eat the Road Runner.
2. Not long after, ACME comes up with a new product (Rocket Skates, perhaps) that sells like hotcakes and they make a big profit. That’s the good news. The bad news is that corporations are taxed on profits just like people are taxed on income. The rate depends on the amount of profit and ranges from 15% (for profit under $ 50,000) up to as much as 38%. Now, when we say the corporation is taxed, who do we mean? Who is this corporation? Why, the corporation is Warren Buffett and all the other stockholders. They are represented by the Board of Directors – Warren may even be a member of said Board if he owns enough stock.
3. When a corporation makes a profit, the Board can do one of two things:
a. They can reinvest the profits into the company. You know, build more factories, hire more people. That will tend to make the stock price go up as investors recognize the increased value of ACME. But, first they must pay taxes. There may actually be some tax deductions for reinvesting, so let’s say the tax winds up being in the middle of the corporate range at 25%. Let us further suppose that Warren wants his profits. He can sell the stock and get back what he paid and more. That’s the good news. The bad news is that he must pay Capital Gains Tax of 15% on the difference between his buying and selling price. But wait! Didn’t shareholder Buffett pay taxes on those profits already? Yes he did, but that don’t stop the Feds from making him pay again. Total is 36.25 percent on the original profit.
b. The Board could also distribute the profit as dividends to Warren and the other stockholders. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Warren pays tax on the dividends – for his bracket he pays 15%. But wait! That is on top of the corporate tax already paid by shareholder Buffett. We’ll call that 30% - just to be generous. That makes a total of 40.5%.
So, why would Warren say that he only pays 15%? Let’s see where logic takes us. It cannot be that he doesn’t know. He’s a long time and very successful investor. He must know something about corporate taxes. The only other possibility is that he forgot that he paid taxes. You have paid taxes...did you ever forget?
No, he knows – but he has been less than honest with the American Public. Why? Well... I cannot be certain. However, if a hypothetical Billionaire allows hypothetical President to name a whopping big (and equally hypothetical) tax hike after same Billionaire, I cannot help but think that “promises have been made”.
I'd LOVE to see him back up that claim.
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:25pm.
"He claims that he pays only 15% and his secretary pays 25%."
I'd LOVE to see him back up that claim. Did his secretary really pay 25 percent? Or were exemptions and deductions involved which would lower the actual percentage? Was it 20 percent, 15 percent, 12 percent, 10 percent, less? We don't know, and nether does Buffett, or anyone else, other than the secretary and/or her tax accountant, that is.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
One would think that the
Submitted by eaglewingz08 on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 10:41am.
One would think that the democrap socialists would salivate to see the tax returns of an uber rich "capitalist" who pays less taxes than his secretary. But since Buffet is a crony socialist, the left gives him a free pass and attacks those who want to see whether Buffet is being honest, or a hypocrite. It's not like we're asking for the name and returns of his supposed secretary/assistant to prove he's a liar, although we should be entitled to that as well, given how he's injected that person into a political maelstrom. I also wonder what that assistant is saying to Mr. Buffet. Probably nothing as keeping your mouth shut is probably the first prerequisite to keeping employed. But if the assistant had an honest open relationship with Warren he/she would have told him, keep me out of your public spoutings. I am not for your dangerous tax policies. And if you have any guilt over how much I pay in taxes, either you pay my taxes too, or you give me sufficient investment income so my rate will be as low as yours.
You know it just struck me
Submitted by inquiringmind on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 12:06pm.
You know it just struck me that Buffet's tax comparison is flawed. It is comparing apples and oranges. He is comparing his INVESTMENT income to the secretaries EARNED income. If we compare only his earned income and hers then he is paying a lot more than she is.
I would bet her investment income is taxed at the same rate as his. Just because he has a larger pot of investments should not be a basis of comparison.
Yeah I know, you all had it already figured out. I knew I would catch up eventually.
We don't really need his tax form. Just ask what is the rate Buffett is paying on his EARNED income? What is her earned income rate?
What is the rate Buffet pays on his INVESTMENT income? Hers?
The argument would end there.
There really isn't a comparison.
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:17pm.
There really isn't a comparison, just a claim of one. A claim that can not be substantiated, no matter how hard the liberals try to do so. How does Buffett know how much his secretary, or any other secretary, for that matter, paid in taxes? Unless he saw the actual tax records, which is privileged financial information that Buffett has absolutely no access to, there's no way he could know! His claim is a lie, he made it all up.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
Some Questions
Submitted by Free Thinker on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 2:06pm.
Dyson: "Yes, the income is still a great disparity, but the wealth gap is astonishing. It`s a travesty of economic justice."
What does that mean? What is economic justice? Is he implying that taking money away from people who earn it is somehow just? Is the definition of economic justice equal results or equal opportunity? Should I be paid the same as Tom Brady or George Clooney? Why do they get paid so much more than the guy selling popcorn? Does anyone really believe Warren Buffett pays less in taxes than his secretary?
Dyson should share
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:31pm.
Dyson should share his income with me. I'm quite sure he makes a lot more than I do. Otherwise, being that HE is a a benefactor of the "income disparity" he thinks is such a "travesty," Dyson is nothing more than a hypocrite.
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
It's been fact-checked?
Submitted by CobraMan on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 3:12pm.
I love the claim of "it's been fact-checked." How can that fact-checking occur if Buffett won't release his tax records? Buffett claimed that HE paid less in taxes than his secretary. We'll, we'd need to see not only HIS records, but the secretary's records as well. Otherwise, no fact-checking can occur.
By the way, Buffett, how DO you know how much your secretary paid in taxes? Did you get a look at her personal tax records?
The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States. The US Constitution
Unless you're a fetus. The US Supreme Court
Or Anwar al-Awlaki.
What did Dyson say?
Submitted by UpNorth on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 7:00pm.
"It`s a travesty of economic justice. It shows you that the crisis in housing really led to the greatest bleed-off of black wealth in the history of this nation". Is "economic justice" the new code for "from each according to his means, to each according to his needs"?
And, I'd bet that the "crisis in housing" hurt Americans equally. But, dems/libs would rather segregate us by race, status, gender and any other identifier they can come up with.
Go to the inner city, look
Submitted by mostlymoderate on Mon, 09/26/2011 - 8:20pm.
Go to the inner city, look around at all the people doing nothing to better themselves and you will find out why there is a wealth gap. There is an entire generation of "hip hopsters" that could care less about anything but getting some new tattoos, wearing low pants, talking like they are "gangsters" and have never read a book. It is prevalent amongst all races, creeds, sexes etc. We are in a century when it is "normal" to see people with tattoos all over their arms, necks, faces and heads as well as piercing every part of their visible body. The mass media, reality television and the tabloids have essentially made it "cool" to be worthless trash.
Don't even get me started on all the people that spend a majority of their time playing "Farmville" on FB. The bottom line is that all the people on government welfare programs are too comfortable to waste their time trying to change anything. They would rather collect a government check and screw around all day and watch the "celebrities" live life.
Bottom line: cut welfare and make people earn a living.
Reminds me of an article I
Submitted by ant on Tue, 09/27/2011 - 2:04pm.
Reminds me of an article I read a few years back, wish I could remember the author. He pointed out how he observed the offspring of first generation immigrants here from Mid-Asia dressing in 'gangsta' clothes and imitating 'gangsta' speech and behavior. He believed part of the problem is that we don't teach the young what it is to be American. In some parts of the Country, instilling American values and culture on youth is considered heresy and a violation of the religion of multi-culturalism. It is really National suicide.