Granted, he's no Steve Wynn, but....

The time is way overdue for a flat tax- no deductions allowed. Say goodbye to the IRS, H&R Block, etc.

pj, did you read szelisk's post? Did you read the WSJ yesterday wherein they totally dissembled Buffett's point? Did you see where Buffett is not in favor of raising taxes on those $200-250,000 earners, just $1,000,000+ ? Or the speech his congressman father gave regarding a confiscatory government and how bad that is for a country?
No?
I didn't think so.

I make a point of not reading anything owned by Rupert Murdoch but I am aware of the retort against Buffet...that he should simply write a check to the government if he wants to be taxed more. Oh, snap !

Hmmm....I think all the neo-cons who wanted to go to war in Iraq should excusively fund that endeavor with their voluntary income... or better yet, they should voluntarily fight that war exclusively with their manpower.... somehow I dont think they agree in voluntary Government in that scenario.

And considering Warren Buffet's father lived in an era where tax rates were more than double what they are today I'm not sure his comments are terrible relevant to the present. His son agrees.

If you think HuffPo or the Kos or MSNBC is going to tell you the truth about Buffet, you are a human ostrich. It isn't just about him voluntarily writing checks to the treasury. Keep your head stuck in the sand. Your dear leaders are counting on it.

pj, You want me to pay for Iraq and Afghanistan? Funny how you skip our little foray into Libya. You know where we were going to be there "days, not weeks"...that being months ago.
What makes you think I am in favor of those endeavors? Regardless, I'll kick in for the wars, you get all the entitlements. And all the needless departments and redundant bureaucracies, Labor, Education, EPA, etc. There are literally dozens of federal departments for the homeless alone.
Next we'll have a new "Department of Departments" as per Mark Steyn's joke.
It's not just the taxes, it's the way they're wasted.

The top 1% pay 39% of the taxes and the bottom 47% pay zero; which has been stated numerous times but some people choose to ignore this.

So is this fair?

Yes, Hoops, we know that you have redefined the word "taxes" numerous times depending on the conversation at hand.

What percentage of the nations wealth does the top 1% have? ... Is it fair to tax people in proportion to their wealth or should Warren Buffet pay the government the same exact amount of tax as the cashier at Walmart?

According to this study out of the UCSC college of sociology, first published in September of 2005 and updated in July of this year, as of 2007 the top 1% had 34.6% of the Net Worth & Financial Wealth in America. When just taking into account just Financial Wealth it is 42.7%
https://sociology.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Of interest is Table 3 which shows how this compares over time since 1922.

It is highly likely that a cashier is part of the 47% that does not pay any income tax.

“I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone -- not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 -- shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain,” Buffet said.

That was his first fib. Any basic MBA class that analyzes investments includes effective tax rates in it's calculations

Second fib:

"Warren Buffet begs Congress to stop coddling billionaires....
Buffet pays 17% taxes...his staff pays more than double.

“But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income -- and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. "

His own company Berkshire Hathaway has not paid taxes in almost 10 years due to a tax dispute. Why not agree to pay the taxes due per the IRS calculation?

Third fib:
"I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income"

He paid 17% only because he took advantage of the available deductions. Since he is such a believer in taxes he could of not taken all the deductions and paid the top rate of 35%