Warren Buffett and His Secretary Talk Taxes

GEMO25: Are you seriously saying that they would REALLY come forward into the national stage and tell everyone complete lies? That is rediculous! There are HUNDREDS of people who will check and double check and triple double check all of the facts in her claim! You are completely ignoring common sense because you don’t want to face the truth: that what they are saying IS the truth, and things in America need to change! Every time someone makes a legitimate claim that doesn’t go along with YOUR politics, you can’t just call them a liar! That is complete nonsense! YOU need to learn common sense! It’s people like you who make me lose faith in the American public!!!

ABC, please explain how this women pays more than 35%? Even if you include FICA and Medicare costs, she would have to be making a significant amount of money to be taxed at such a high rate….I honestly don’t understand how this number could be reported but not explained. To be taxed at such a high rate, she would have to be a member of the so-called 1%…and if so, she has enough money to hire a tax planner to lower that rate…this really just doesn’t make sense.

I think this President needs to stop wasting OUR money on his failed policies and programs. Stop overspending, and cut taxes for all of us!

Sorry, have to agree. Visibly absent from the discussion is her salery as an “average” secretary. I don’t think it would be quite 500K but she is making in the $380k range as an average secretary if she is in the 35% tax bracket

Just to be sure what we are talking about, tell us what her “taxable income is. (line 41 I think)

On what planet do most secretaries make enough to pay a 35.8% tax rate? Especially one who is in her 30s who may or may not have a college education at minimum or an MBA? Get real!! Most executive secretaries might be in a 15-20% tax bracket!

I’m thinking that she pays such a high rate because he is fair enough to share the wealth with her. He’s not paying her 50k a year. He may well be paying her 380k to 500k. I think that’s more the point of share the wealth than funding entitlement programs. CEO’s making 10 million a year should be paying their employees more and taking a little bit less for themselves.

Paying 35.8% Debbie is obviously a 1%. Part of Obama’s ” Millionaires and Billionaires” club.
On the one hand he decries that Warren pays a lower rate than her. On the other hand, and this is the really funny part, Obama want to RAISE Debbies taxes by repealing the Bush tax cuts.

Too funny for me.

I would like to know what % of the American people the believe the utter nonsense that ABC, Buffet, his secretary and the president are perpetrating. Then we would know the % that have any basic ability to think critically and those that are morons. If anyone really believes the president is on looking to only tax millionaires, you are a moron.

Buffet has no intention of paying more taxes and I couldn’t care less if Obama took it all. I guess when you have that much money, you must think that everyone is a moron.

I am very upset at what maybe incorrect reporting of the tax amount of Warren Buffets secretary. ABC made look like she pays 35.8% taxes on her federal taxes. I just looked the tax table (irs.gov)
and the max rate is 35% after you make over $359,000. I wish I had her job. They should have indicated the 35.8% may have included state taxes.

ABC, I agree with a previous post, please explain to me how you could leave out the fact that if this woman really has an effective tax rate of 35% (or is in the 36% marginal tax bracket), she has yearly earned income north of $380,000, and is therefore, hardly “Middle” class as the President tried to assert during his SOTU speech. In fact, at that income level she is part of the “evil” rich, and therefore, SHOULD be paying a third or MORE of her income in taxes according to his rhetoric!!! Lets have some fair and balance reporting please…

The people who will believe this and not question it are the 47% that don’t pay taxes. This includes all of those who haven’t worked in a long time because the government (with a few “lies” and “tweaks”) pays them more than they could make (without actually working hard) to sit on the couch and play PS3. Plus those that just checked whatever box the employer told them to and then handed their W-2 to the cash-advance accounting firm who will do their taxes for them. All Obama has to do is just get a few more people to vote for him (like Warren Buffett types who are so well off that they don’t really care that much) and he’s got it made.

Single 2010 Federal Tax Brackets Taxable Income:
Income Tax: $0-$8,375 10% of the amount over $0
8,375-$34,000 $837.50 plus 15% of the amount over $8,375 14% at 34,000
$34,000-$82,400 $4,681.25 plus 25% of the amount over $34,000 20% at 82,400.
$82,400-$171,850 $16,781.25 plus 28% of the amount over $82,400 24.34% at 171,850
$171,850-$373,650 $41,827.25 plus 33% of the amount over $171,850 29% at 373,650
$373,650+ $108,421.25 plus 35% of the amount over $373,650 about $1mm would be 33%

I will be waiting to see if ABC comes back to this issue as it becomes obvious this seceratary does not pay 38.5 % of her total income on federal taxes. It could be a marginal rate but would still be wrong because FICA would not apply in the highest brackets. And the there it the fact that the IRS rates are on “adjusted” income after all the deductions.

ABC, are you watching?

Ok, lets make it a little bit more relatable for all of you. My husband and I bring homejust over $110K, with 4 kids. We are in the 28% tax bracket. Warren Buffet still only pays 17.5%! And he did put his money where his mouth is and wrote a matching check to only one congressman who took him up on his wager. Stop beating Warren Buffet up. He is looking out for the people who are the middle man. the government supplies all the poverty stricken with their immediate needs, the rich supply themselves with more than enough. Both off the backs of the middle class income tax payers. We can’t “Occupy Wall Street” when we are too busy earning everyone else’s keep.

Impossible, It is impossible for her to pay 35.8% unless she is making a lot more than the average person, or is a complete moron and has no clue how to fill out her tax returns. ABC, what is the rest of the story? This propaganda must not stand.

What sort of “news” outfit reports like this? Define your terms. Where’s your supporting evidence? Where are the tax returns? Are we simply supposed to “just trust us” when you make claims like this?

More to the point, why isn’t the media DEMANDING the release of these tax returns insteading of repeating unsupported claims like trained spokespeople?

For all the NONE believers……… Go back and read Patrick’s post @ 08:26pm

THE TOP FEDERAL TAX RATE is 35%, thats it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! not 35.8%
Go to IRS .gov and look for yourself.

Someone send an e-mail to the whitehouse.

Time to talk taxes. Time to get payroll taxes on $one million and up to 50%, under $30,000 to 5% and everyone else in between.

I think that Buffet is right; everyone should pay the same amount! Let’s reduce everyone’s taxes to the lowest possible level. He should pay the same amount as someone who gets food stamps. He earned the money, why should he have to give it to some legislated morality program or to the war machine? Don’t tax the rich more, tax everyone less. Come on people, the government wastes our tax dollars and like a pig snorts when it runs out of feed and looks around for more. Like Schwartzenegger used to say, “We don’t have a money problem, we have a spending problem.”

The government is too big, too intrusive and way out of touch with its citizens. Let’s starve the beast and start over.

I have only one concern and that is not what Warren pays and not what his secretary pays. My concern and the point here is for all of the american people who work hard but don’t make high wages and still have to pay high taxes. The wealthy need their taxes increased to help pay down the debt and be put forward on federal infrastructure improvements etc,. End of story. If I am a billlionaire, I need to pay more taxes period. If any poster here is not a billionaire and are fighting this article you are biting off your own fingers. Look out for yourself and demand higher taxes for those who can afford them. Billionaries don’t want to give up their greed. They have all sorts of bells and whistles to keep their taxes low. The average person doesn’t.

The secretary acted so dumb… really?. She is a big wage earner, which is good for her but get off the Obummer band wagon and be proud already!. You work hard, good for you madam secretary so don’t be mad at your boss’s tax issue, be mad that the arrogance of Washington, and our idiot leader who takes too much of your money simply because he doesn’t have the brilliance your boss has to manager the nations money.

It amazes me how easily we are sucked into certain ways of thinking: Hey, I don’t want Warren Buffet paying the same rate as I pay…. I want to pay what he pays!! Push that thought… make everyone pay the same and be done with this junk.

Absolute B.S. and typical liberal media coverage to spin a story the way they want it to read. The top tax bracket in 2010 was 35% and that “INCREMENTAL” tax rate was only paid on the amount of money made OVER $373,650. So it would have been IMPOSSIBLE to pay a tax rate of 35.8% on your income and impossible to pay a rate even approaching the incremental rate of 35% for that matter, since you do not pay near that rate for every dollar up to that point and even that doesn’t count deductions that everyone would have such as mortgage interest and charitable contributions. Warrent Buffet paid an ACTUAL tax rate of 17% on his gross income and even if his secretary made $1 million in salary and didn’t participate in any of his capital gains investments, then she still couldn’t have paid a tax rate of more than about 30%. ABC tried to report Warrent Buffet’s ACTUAL tax rate and his secretary’s INCREMENTAL tax rate (apples and oranges), but they didn’t even get that number correct.

If this woman is paying a 30% tax rate, she must be making a whole lot of money. Yet, somehow we are to believe she is a ‘victim”???

Also, someone should ask Warren Buffet why he is sheltering so much of his own wealth from taxes. If he truly wants to pay more, why not let his estate be taxed at 50% when he dies rather than passing it, tax free, to the Gates Foundation? While the Gates Foundation is a worthy cause, people like Buffet who think the government can spend our money better than us, should walk the talk and allow his wealth to be subject to the death tax.

Nice to know that Warren B. pays his staff so well. In excess of $400k for his secretary and she is representing the average worker. Seeing Warren is with the democrates is shows that they have no clue and they pick on Romney, nice choice Obama for the average person.

It is so refreshing to see so many people here at the ABCNews forum asking tough questions about the assertions of our Liar-in-Chief. Thank goodness people are starting to realize that you can’t believe anything this man or those around him say.

Wow! $200k a year , I only wish I could feel her pain. Obama and Buffett a couple of clowns.

Come on, 35.8%..are you kidding me. She is HARDLY middle class. So distorted ABC, show ALL the numbers, not just numbers that support Democrats idea that the investors do not pay their fair share. Seems to me that you, ABC, are not including the massive amount of deductions she gets. Also you fail to mention the fact, that with a tax rate that high she is only paying payroll tax up to 109K, the rest it not taxed. Boy, sure a lot of holes in this story lol. EPIC FAIL

EVERYONE pays taxes based on the SAME RULES!! —– EVERYONE pays the same for capital gains taxes!! —– It is the individual’s “mix” of income that is different!! —– Buffett loves to push the Progressive agenda, but he is misleading the American people!! —- EVEN CLINTON SAW THIS!!! —- In 1997, President Clinton signed a Republican tax-cut bill that slashed the capital-gains tax rate from 28 percent to 20 percent. His critics in his party’s extreme left wing said it would benefit the wealthy and the lost tax revenue would drive up the deficit. On the contrary, Mr. Clinton’s capital-gains tax cut fueled an investment boom in the technology sector and the rest of the economy; taxable capital gains nearly doubled over the next three years and led to a budget surplus. Notably, as a result of an explosion in new jobs, unemployment fell below 4 percent.

It would have been so simple to clarify exactly how they arrived at 35.8%. I think it includes all federal taxes (income tax, FICA, and medicare). Buffet, Obama and the media aren’t comparing apples to apples. And using this employee as an example of inequality was ridiculous. She is far from the “average” wage earner.

And if I’m so lucky to make a little interest and capital gains on an investment I made, then I should be taxed at a lower rate. That money is an investment (100% at risk). Why am I going to invest if the government is going to take 30% right off the top? They didn’t risk their money, I risked my hard earned money. And if I loose 100% of my investment, the government only let’s me take up to a $3,000 loss against my income each year. They tax me on the full amount of my gain, but then they only let me offset up to $3,000 of my net loss annually. Talk about unfair!!

And why is Buffet so h*ll bent on wanting to give the government more money. They spend a ton of it foolishly and irresponsibly. The solution is not giving the government more taxes. The solution is for government to REDUCE spending. It’s that simple.

And REFORM the tax code and have a FLAT TAX – period! End of story!!

Seniboye Tienabeso alleges (with no evidence, of course) that Warren Buffett’s alleged, so-called “secretary” “Bosanek pays a tax rate of 35.8 percent of income, while Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent.”

Will Tienabeso and ABC be producing any evidence to support its utterly unsubstantiated allegation that Buffett’s alleged, so-called secretary “pays a tax rate of 35.8 percent of income” and that Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent”?

Will Tienabeso and ABC produce the tax returns for both Buffett and Buffett’s alleged, so-called “secretary”?

Do Tienabeso and ABC even know what the incomes were for both Buffett and Buffett’s alleged, so-called “secretary”? Do Tienabeso and ABC even know what evidence is?

From Forbes:
“…taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffett’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent.”

She is a 1%er!

To get taxed at that rate his secretary is either a moron which I doubt or in the 1%. Even the poor people they bring on stage are in the top 10% of global Income earners. Here is an idea, you want more of my money have the cajones to come take it from me in person, at least then I have a chance to shoot you then.

I would like to hear President Obama say he wants to raise capital gains tax to 30 percent from the current 15 percent…he wont ….he knows this would spoil his agenda, since he will be forced to admit that ordinary income and capital gains income are NOT one and the same….and show him to either be too stupid to know the difference or a liar.

No way is her effective tax rate more than Buffet’s. They are obviously taking her marginal rate, which could be 28% and adding SS and Medicare of 7.6%. But that is completely bogus because not all your income is taxed at 28%. Buffett obviously knows math, so he must be lying. And if she is in the 28% bracket she is making good money.

She’s a personal assistant and secretary to one of the world’s most wealthy men , and you people think she’s making less than $250k year ? Counting her benefits package it’s probably even more than that .

Thank you GMA for making my jaw drop first thing in the morning with your ongoing liberal reporting. No “average” person pays 35% ….. complete reporting on this story would have included her annual salary. She’s clearly not “average” if she’s in that tax bracket.

Okay, they obviously added Nebraska state tax plus employee contribution of 7.65% for fica and medicare. But if they are going to add those to her tax liability shouldn’t they add the employer contribution made by Buffet to his tax liability? BTW add it to his for ALL his employees. Let’s see how that changes the numbers.

So Buffett’s secretary makes over $379,000/year and pays at a higher rate than he does. So what? They are both wealthy, he just has more investment income which lowers his overall rate. She is hardly the average American, so this whole story is meaningless to the vast majority of us. Investment income is taxed at a lower rate to encourage people to invest and investement is good for the economy. If Buffett wants to pay more taxes, he can write a check to the U S Treasury, they will be happy to spend it for him.

Given that his secty. makes between $300,000 and $500,000 per year, her tax rate makes some kind of sense.

No way. I’m a CPA and there is no way either one of them are telling the truth. Let us see her tax return. IF the Obama campaign is going to hold her up as THE example of a flawed tax system, then let us see the return. It’s unfair otherwise. Because franky, I don’t believe a word they are claiming.

I guess I don’t get it. If the very rich feel they aren’t paying enough into society, why don’t they just increase the wages of the employees in companies they own? It doesn’t make sense that they would need government to tax them to distibute the wealth. Something is not right. Distribution by increasing salaries would increase productivity, innovation, and morale, while distribution by welfare/tax leads to lost productivity, decreased innovation, and a continous drop in morale. What’s up??

Forbes is reporting that she makes between $200,000 and $500,000. Also, it’s very likely that she does pay a portion of taxes at the Capital Gains rate. IF BUFFET WAS GENUINE, HE DOESN’T HAVE TO PAY A CAPITAL GAINS TAX RATE. WHY DOESN’T HE JUST CONVERT HIS PAY TO SALARY, THEN HE WOULD HAVE NOTHING TO COMPLAIN ABOUT!!!! But he doesn’t, and he won’t. Hypocrite.

I am calling BS on Obama’s claim that Warren Buffet is somehow not paying as much tax as his secretary. Didn’t this all start because Buffet claimed to have paid about $1Million in Federal Income tax. Assuming the numbers a correct that would put his taxable income in the range of $5.7Million (quick and dirty calculations)
And Assuming R.Glenn’s numbers are correct that the secretary paid $59K in taxes (Federal, State, etc) that puts her taxable income around $166K.
Wait, Buffet paid $1Million in taxes at an effective rate of 17.4% and his secretary paid about $59K at an effective rate of 35.8%. Isn’t $59K Much less than $1Million? So even with Buffets lower tax rate he still paid more in taxes than his secretary did. At this rate, Buffet paid more in taxes than his secretary’s entire income, about 6 times as much as the secretary’s taxable income.
So how is it that he is paying less than his secretary?

ABC is quoted as writing “Bosanek pays a tax rate of 35.8 percent of income, while Buffett pays a rate at 17.4 percent.” However this is a deliberate misleading distortion since Buffett’s calculation included not only what his secretary paid, but also what was paid by her employer “the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf” – was 17.4 percent of his taxable income. If you exclude taxes paid into her Social Security Retirement account, and medicaid, by her and employers required contribution, then her Federal income tax rate drops to 20.5%. Now the disparity between tax rates is no longer double. Since social security wages are capped at $106,800, because social security benefits are capped and based on what you contribute; to compare tax rates based on these wages to investment and interest income not subjected to mandatory retirement contributions shows the depth of deception these parties will stoop to mislead the public.

Imagine having to treat the profits from the sale of an investment like your house as ordinary income and subject to FICA and self employment taxes, and without a cap. While I have no problem with Mega Millionaires paying a 30% tax, in the end, the middle class will lose what tax breaks they ever had while trying to redistribute Mr. Buffett’s wealth.

Its easy to make your point when you pick and choose who you talk about. Look at the average tax rate for each group and you will see that the average tax rate on the rich is higher than the average tax rate on any other group. Over the last 4 years I have paid about 4%,0,0,2.5% respectively, and i make about 65k a year. For Buffets secretary to pay that high of a tax rate, she would have to make between 200-500k a year. She is hardly representative of middle class. Democrats need to stop this class warfare crap The only fair tax rate is a equal tax rate with no deductions. As long as you allow people to take deductions, they will find ways to make their tax liability as low as possible.