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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (443421)	8/15/2003 1:03:07 PM
From: Srexley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

"Buffett said that under the new "tax" laws his rate would be about 3%. What's up with that?" I'll tell you what's up with that. Buffet is playing politics or he is breaking the law (my guess is that he is playing politics). If Buffet is paying 3% on his INCOME, he is a tax evader and should be jailed. Again, I think he is playing politics. "although there are still loopholes that only the wealthy can access" What are these? Please explain. "the dividend, capital gains sort of income that those that make millions and hundreds of million a year rake in" Income taxes have already been paid if the person is now making dividends and capital gains on the money. You can't invest in pre-tax income (except for IRA's), and then earn money on it without previously paying taxes. There is no way legal way to avoid paying INCOME tax in the U.S. (which is what we are talking about). You want to tax the rich twice, and maybe Buffet is so rich he doesn't mind being taxed twice. You are showing some eal limitations of tax laws and how the U.S. taxes income. People like you are fooled easily, it seems. "Who benefits; the people that Bush understands, associates with" You mean the people that make this country work? The ones who pay the lion's share of the taxes? You are correct. Why you lefties hate these people (instead of respecting them) is beyond me. My guess is that it makes you feel better emotionally. This is the class warfare that jallen was talking about, and I am glad to see you put it in print. "I do and America does as the middle class will be facing a heavier burden" You still have not explained how a lower percentage on the tax table will result in a "heavier burden". I don't think you can explain it, and the result is that you make Bush and the succesful in America to be the bad guys. Think this through before you tell me to read the Buffet article and repeat the misleading "3%" tax on the rich. It is 35% on INCOME, and if you don't call it INCOME, you cannot spend it. When you can spend it, it is INCOME, and it is TAXED as income. Get it? "or read up on it on articles on the internet" Looks like you have been doing a lot of this. I would suggest looking at the facts, at your tax return, and at the rules for sheltering INCOME as something else. You cannot legally escape paying taxes in America if you make lots of INCOME. Once you have made that INCOME and paid taxes on it you can invest it and earn DIVIDENDS or CAPITOL GAINS, at which time you will pay rates that are lower than standard INCOME rates, but it will be the SECOND time you are taxed on your money. Buffet has built up his wealth over years and years, and now makes lots of DIVIDEND and CAPITOL GAIN income. If you would like to tax that at the INCOME rate, then stick to that as your argument instead of your indefensable position that 25% is higher than 28%. Have a good day!

To: cnyndwllr who wrote (443421)	8/15/2003 1:06:05 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston	Respond to of 769670

I think the plan now is to tax dividends the same as long term capital gains. One thing I'm not clear on is whether the Alternative Minimum Tax affects this issue. Any tax accountants? " Buffett, chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., wrote a Washington Post column in May criticizing plans to eliminate taxes on stock dividends. He called it "voodoo economics" and noted it would result in his tax rate dropping to 3 percent while his receptionist's rate remained at about 30 percent. But a few days after the column appeared, the U.S. House and Senate reached a budget deal that ended the president's hopes for tax-free stock dividends. Instead of eliminating dividend taxes altogether, Congress reduced taxes on dividends from up to 38.6 percent to 15 percent for most taxpayers through 2008. Buffet's tax rate may have dropped, but not to the level Graham repeatedly cited. Graham campaign spokeswoman Kristian Denny said Graham did speak to Buffett, but apparently based his stump speech line on an outdated conversation. "Could he have been a little clearer? Yes," Denny said. "But the fact of the matter is that the final version of the bill has Buffett's secretary paying a higher tax rate than Buffett." She did not know what Buffett's tax rate would be. Representatives of Buffett, who made headlines this week after joining Arnold Schwarzenegger's California gubernatorial campaign as an economic and financial adviser, did not return phone calls Thursday."