美国政府庞大的财
政赤字。共和党人闻讯马上批评说，“如果巴菲特觉得富人缴税力度不够，那么何必把问题搞得那么复杂呢？干脆由你来开一张支票给美国政府那不就解决问题了
吗？”
而被巴菲特点名的麦康奈尔也通过发言人回应称，华盛顿方面应当致力于机构精减而不是多收税，同时麦康奈尔还发起挑衅，既然奥巴马总统和巴菲特都
这么想多交税，不如先请他们展示一下民主党员的税单。距离11月6日大选还有近10个月的时间，也许两党还会有更多互相开火的状态。
Warren Buffett Challenges GOP Senator Mitch McConnell to Help
Reduce the Federal Deficit
Published:
Wednesday, 11 Jan 2012 | 4:46 PM ET
Text Size
By: Alex
Crippen
Executive Producer
http://www.cnbc.com/id/45961945
Warren
Buffett has a challenge for Senate
Minority Leader
Mitch
McConnell. Last fall, after Buffett wrote
his controversial op-ed calling for higher tax rates on the very
rich ('
Stop
Coddling the Super-Rich'),
McConnell suggested that if Buffett is 'feeling guilty' about his
tax rate he should '
send
in a check' to the Treasury.
That line had become
very
popular among Buffett's conservative
critics.
In a
Time Magazine interview
posted on its web site, he has
some fun with McConnell's suggestion.
'I thought of offering to match the total amount — if
we go to a contribution system — I'll match the total contribution
made by all Republican members of Congress, and I'll even go three
for one with McConnell. (Laughs.)
ALSO ON WARREN BUFFETT WATCH
It's kind of touching this faith he has in the American public,
that with a one-point two or three trillion dollar deficit that he
thinks Americans are so wonderfully spirited that they would just
solve it all by contributions. That is a tax policy only a
Republican could come up with. So Mitch — and he's got this
line, he's got this proposal out there — I would definitely, it's a
firm offer, all the Republican members of Congress and like I say,
I'm willing to triple his. I'll match the rest of
them.'
(You can hear Buffett's comments, along with some others on
different topics, courtesy audio files
Time has included
in its online story.)
Time notes, 'That could be quite a bill if McConnell takes
the challenge; after all, the Senator is worth at least $10
million.'
Buffett says, 'I'm not worried.'
Warren Buffett Ready to Take Republicans’ Tax Challenge
By Rana Foroohar
|
January 11, 2012
|
1321
Tweet
Mark Seliger for TIME
Updated, 6:10 p.m. E.T.
http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/11/warren-buffett-to-mitch-mcconnell-put-up-or-shut-up/
Warren Buffett is ready to call Republicans’ tax bluff. Last fall,
Senator Mitch McConnell said that if Buffett were feeling “guilty”
about paying too little in taxes, he should “send in a check.” The
jab was in response to Buffett’s August 2011 New York
Times op-ed, which
made hay of the fact that our tax system is so unbalanced, Buffett
(worth about $45 billion) pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.
Senator John Thune promptly introduced the “Buffett Rule Act,” an
option on tax forms that would allow the rich to donate more in
taxes to help pay down the national debt. It was, as Buffett told
me for this week’s TIME cover story, “a tax policy only a
Republican could come up with.”
Still, he’s willing to take them up on it. “It restores my faith in
human nature to think that there are people who have been around
Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think
that [the deficit] can’t be solved by voluntary contributions,” he
says with a chuckle. So Buffett has pledged to match 1 for 1 all
such voluntary contributions made by Republican members of
Congress. “And I’ll even go 3 for 1 for McConnell,” he says. That
could be quite a bill if McConnell takes the challenge; after all,
the Senator is worth at least $10 million. As Buffett put it to me,
“I’m not worried.” (
See below for a statement from McConnell’s
office.)
Listen to Buffett’s retort to McConnell’s contribution
theory:
(
PHOTOS: The Life and Career of Warren Buffett)
Buffett
doesn’t want to sound ungrateful, especially since
McConnell and other Republicans have lobbied to keep taxes low for
the über-rich, saving him between $6 million and $7 million this
year. Oddly, though, conservatives can’t seem to make up their mind
about taxes. On Wednesday in the
Wall
Street Journal, supply sider Arthur Laffer
bashed Buffett for, among
other things, shielded income, because he doesn’t pay taxes on
unrealized capital gains (currently taxed at 0%) or charitable
contributions (which are tax deductible). “Well, I had a net
unrealized loss in 2011,” says Buffett. “But if Arthur has a plan
for how he wants to tax unrealized capital gains, I’d love to hear
it — it’s an interesting thing for a Republican to put
forward!”
If Buffett had his way, he’d pay more than the 17% rate he
currently forks over on his net adjusted income
— and he’d
have the government put that additional money to work by making
sure that whatever portion of the 99% that isn’t thriving in the
market economy gets some help. As Buffett
wrote in Fortune
a few years back, “I’ve worked in an economy that rewards
someone who saves the lives of others on a battlefield with a
medal, rewards a great teacher with thank-you notes from parents,
but rewards those who can detect the mispricing of securities with
sums reaching into the billions.”
Listen to Buffett discuss why a capitalist system should take
care of good citizens:
Buffett doesn’t want to hobble capitalism. He just wants to give it
a heart. And he says the way to do that is to change our tax policy
to ensure that people who earn their money from investments rather
than by working for a paycheck contribute their fair share. “We
need a tax system that takes very good care of people who just
really aren’t as well adapted to the market system and to
capitalism but are nevertheless just as good citizens and are doing
things that are of use in society.” Note to bond traders: your
higher taxes should help subsidize the building of bridges and the
running of state-sponsored day-care centers.
Buffett has plenty of other prescriptions for America — from more
progressive consumption taxes to penalties for errant corporate
directors to an overhaul of health care. He’s also got a few choice
words for the Republican field and their ideas about bootstrapping
and “merit” economies: “This whole business about [Newt] Gingrich
going down to Occupy and saying, ‘They ought to be getting a job,’
that’s just … you know, maybe they can be historians for Freddie
Mac too and make $600,000 a year.” When I ask whether Mitt Romney
is a job creator or destroyer, Buffett says that while businesses
shouldn’t keep people they don’t need, “I don’t like what
private-equity firms do in terms of taking out every dime they can
and leveraging [companies] up so that they really aren’t equipped,
in some cases, for the future.”
(
SPECIAL: See Warren Buffett in TIME’s List of the People Who
Mattered in 2011)
Listen to Buffett explain why education can’t solve all the
U.S.’s problems:
Despite Buffett’s disenchantment with conservatives and partisan
politics, he’s more than ever a bull on America’s future. What
would Warren do to get the U.S. back on track?
Read
TIME’s cover story this week, available Thursday morning online
and Friday on newsstands, to find out.
Listen to Buffett talk about why housing will bounce
back:
(
MORE: What Politicians Have to Lose — and Gain — from the
“Buffett Rule”)
Listen to Buffett discuss the tensions between the U.S. and
China:
UPDATE: Don Stewart, a
spokesman for Senator McConnell, provided the following response to
Buffett’s remarks:
Sen. McConnell says that Washington should be smaller,
rather than taxes getting bigger. And since some, like President
Obama and Mr. Buffett, want to pay higher taxes, Congress made it
possible for them to call their own bluff and send in a check. So I
look forward to Mr. Buffett matching a healthy batch of checks from
those who actually want to pay higher taxes, including
Congressional Democrats, the President and the
DNC.
Read more:
http://swampland.time.com/2012/01/11/warren-buffett-to-mitch-mcconnell-put-up-or-shut-up/#ixzz1k4c1eGoO
美国议员应战“股神”巴菲特 白宫窃喜
2012年01月19日 21:46 已有
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为力挺奥巴马连任，“股神”巴菲特日前呼吁共和党国会议员自掏腰包捐款减少财政赤字，并放下“你们捐多少我就捐多少”的豪言。眼下，当真有议员回应，要求巴菲特率先捐出4.9万
美元作表率。
巴菲特与共和党议员早在去年就结下梁子，当时巴菲特振臂一呼，主张富人多缴税，却招徕共和党议员的讥讽和围剿。本次巴菲特的呼吁，被视为再度冲着共和党而来。
不过，还真有共和党议员“接招”。维吉尼亚州国会议员Scott
Rigell表示，自己去年一共捐出2万3000多美元，占薪资的15%。他计划今年要多捐2.61万美元，这就意味着巴菲特必须捐出近4.9万美元。
在致巴菲特的信函中，Rigell称，“我很欣赏、并愉快的接受你提出的慷慨建议——共和党国会议员捐多少协助减少联邦赤字，你就捐出相应的款项。”
此前，美国总统奥巴马提议将美
国债务上限再次提高1.2万亿美元，不过这一建议遭到美国众议院投票反对，意味着美国财政赤字及债务危机可能再次困扰投资者。
巴菲特兑现国会议员配捐挑战 向美财政部捐赠减赤资金4.9万美元
2012年01月19日 19:34 已有
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[世华财讯]巴菲特将向美国财政部捐赠减赤资金4.9万美元，以迎接共和党议员Scott
Rigell提出的捐资挑战，并兑现先前所作承诺。
综合媒体1月19日报道，著名投资家、“股神”沃伦-巴菲特（Warren Buffett）计划向美国财政部（United States
Treasury）开出面额4.9万美元的支票，用于帮助其偿还国家债务。
巴菲特此举是为了迎接弗吉尼亚州共和党议员Scott Rigell提出的挑战。伯克希尔哈撒韦公司(Berkshire Hathaway
Inc.)致Rigell的信函中，巴菲特表示，Rigell能够在他发出挑战之前作出此举，让他印象深刻。
巴 菲特在《时代周刊(Time
Magazine)》上周将进行的采访中发出了挑战书；巴菲特承诺同所有国会共和党议员进行的自愿捐款展开竞争，对于共和党参议院领袖麦康奈尔
(Mitch
McConnel)的捐款，他会捐出规模为前者三倍的捐款。康奈尔以及其他巴菲特的批评者呼吁提高针对富裕人群的征税，他们曾经暗示，假若巴菲特认为自己
被征收的税款不足，那他应该向美国财政部“寄上支票”。
在致巴菲特的信函中，国会议员Scott Rigell表示，他“感激”并且“非常高兴地”接受“巴菲特的慷慨之举”。Scott
Rigell表示，他会将自己国会薪资的15%捐出，用来偿还债务，2011年为23,103.33美元，2012年为26,100美元。这意味着巴菲特
为迎接挑战需要捐赠4.9万美元以上。
Scott
Rigell表示，尽管他们对于税收政策的意见不同，但他认为，作为普通民众与商业人士，他们有着共同的理念——对于国家以及国家财政轨迹的深切忧虑。巴
菲特在回复时写道，他希望Rigell能够“刺激共和党与民主党之间的内部竞争”，美国人民会为两党之间这种类型的竞争鼓掌，并且能够向两党之间的更好合
作迈进一小步。
巴菲特会等到4月20日再开出支票，以判断是否还有其他人接受他的挑战。
