Anything and everything under the sun

Nuffnang

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Stirring Up the Uber-rich, Warren Buffet Style!

I was watching the early news on abc7 early this morning when something really caught my attention. I tell you, its BIG! The 3rd richest man in the world that comes with the name of Warren Buffet is causing a stir ... among the billionaires.

I have complained more than once about how high the taxes that we have to pay and its worst when you only have 1 income. Here, (where the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer) its the middle-income who suffers since a higher portion of their meagre income is taxed to support the poor. So when Mr Warren Buffet made the statement that he (i repeat, the 3rd richest man in the world) is paying a lower percentage of tax on the USD46m that he made last year than his secretary whom last year made USD60k, we know that we're being screwed BIG time. On another note, why is he only paying the secretary usd60k/p.a.? aiyo Mr WB, pay her more than that lah! :P

Apparently on his whopping $46m income last year, he was only taxed 17.7% while the secretary was taxed at 33%. I do find the tax rate for the secretary is a bit too high but im assuming the rate comes from a simple equation of gross pay-net pay which is after deducting the fed tax, state tax, health insurances (medical, dental, prescription, eye), 401k (something like epf but a lot less contribution fr both the employees and employers) and etc.

He then continued on and challenges his peers to do the same and compare their percentage of taxes with their own secretaries and/or workers. Well, they turned him down and one person even suggested that he has gone senile! :P

I googled about it and finds out that he actually made that statement in June this year at a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton. Read more about it here

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi there, Gosh! You're a very beautiful lady. The kind of exotic beauty that can make water sprinklers come on.
Best regards, A stranger.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

tis guy is verrryy interesting kan? i remember my dad told me he owns world largest private jet company yet he doesnt even have one! then i found out he donated 31 million (kalo tak silap) to charity and he still lives in the same 3 bedroom small hse he bought 50 years back, and still drive his own car! (and did i mention he doesnt even have a cellphone??)

hmm.. we need more millionaries like him, no? hehe :D

Beachlover said...

I guess he contributed in his donation as tax exemption.That why we see orang kaya kaya like to donate here and there,kononya besar hati but it's another way to reduce their tax from Uncle Sam.Why give to Uncle Sam ,tak dapat name but donate to Bill Gates Foundation,everybody know,right?.Beside that he is very FRUGAL=Cheap!!hahaha!!he only wear Casio or Timex not Patek!

Cat Cat said...

I agree with you PJ. The poorer people like me get poorer... Everything is so expensive nowadays... Gas prices is reaching $3 a gallon here in VA. Gaji tak naik2... Poreh!

Salt N Turmeric said...

Stranger, thank u for visiting and the compliment.

BM, yelah mamat tu ntah kenapa dia buat duit byk2. kesian anak2 and cucu2 yg tak dapat apa2. lol!

BL, memang he's cheap but like he said, why is he being taxed so little? itu yg tak faham tu. nampak sgt there's something wrong w the system. :(

Kak Ram, dont say tht we'r poor lah coz we'r no way near the poor category. :P we'r the middle income who's affected since we have to 'pay' the poor and the malas ppl here. :(

Anonymous said...

Wah..dah jadi Minah sprinkler pulak..:)) Main2 ya, jangan marah.

Re the taxes..I berasap when I read stuff like that- 17.7%??? I dont think I've ever paid 17.7%...On the bright side though, at least he pays taxes..so many Corporations register abroad with lax tax laws and use other countries as havens for their $..and pay no US taxes.
Also, at least he is kind and donates alot of his $..unlike so many other orang2 kaya.

Lady Gargle said...

Was just reading about him in the newspaper...

It's none the better over here. The rich get richer and the poor get way way much poorer

*sighs*

I say make the rich pay more!

KellytheCulinarian said...

It's so sad, the alternative minimum tax is really screwing the middle class in this country and shows no signs of slowing. So as congress fight over a couple of billion for healthcare while allowing $190 billion for a war that has no end in site, the little guy gets lost in the mix.

Salt N Turmeric said...

Gurdeep, in this land, everything is possible incl money laundering. All u need is a damn good lawyer to confuse everybody!

Frankensteina, thank u for visiting. I think they shud change the saying to, "the rich gets richer and the middle income is becoming poorer" already. lol!

hi Kelly, thank you for visiting. yup, we'r getting screwed big time. and with the oil price soaring up, the question is not whc other oil-rich country is the next target but WHEN! :(