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Head Scratchers

What? Berkshire Hathaway Hasn’t Paid Its Taxes


Ironic, isn’t it? When Warren Buffett penned that op-ed demanding he be taxed more, we assumed that meant he had actually paid his taxes. Not quite the case. Buffett’s famed company, Berkshire Hathaway, owes taxes that are nearly a decade old.

Oh, and they’re not denying it. Berkshire is freely owning up to the fact that it owes taxes from as far back as 2002. Right now, it looks like there are outstanding taxes from 2002-2004 as well as from 2005-2009. They promise they’ll work it out with the IRS within the next year. Can’t Buffett just take a little out of his piggybank and pay up? For a man who so actively preaches honesty and integrity, we’re a little baffled as to why Berkshire won’t just fork over what it owes.

[via The New York Post]

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  • NDanielson

    Liberal democrat? Hypocrite is thy name!

  • Michelle

    Liberal hypocrisy knows no bounds.

  • Anonymous

    Do either of you idiots believe that he is personally responsible for paying the taxes for his company?

    If you do you’re probably Sarah Palin posting under aliases.

  • qwerty

    well duh no rich company ever pays taxex…thank the republicans for that!

  • Anonymous

    Isn’t he the CEO? sure he’s not responsible for paying the taxes but don’t you think he’s responsible for making sure they get paid? I guess not.

  • http://www.facebook.com/everett.vinzant Everett Vinzant

    Folks, the reality is, his company can legally ask for deferrals of his taxes.  ”Can’t Buffett just take a little out of his piggybank and pay up?” No, not legally.  The corporation is an entity, and has accounting rules and laws it has to adhere to.  So the funds to pay the taxes have to some out of the companies coffers.  I’m not an Obama supporter, and I don’t like what some companies can get away with.  However these are the laws that “We the people,” have enacted.  Since no law is being broken by the company, and they are already working to correct the tax deficit (see they didn’t even bother denying it), what is the real story here? 

  • Gorgegirl

    Berkshire is one thing – Buffet’s personal taxes are still another.  And I’m presuming that he has paid his personal income taxes.  Apparently Berkshire has been working with the IRS to resolve some differences in their calculations.  Has nothing to do with Buffet’s personal income tax. 

  • Nate

    Don’t pay your taxes, fine, but shut up about it.  Holier than thou is not nice.  Pay up or shut up.
    http://secondamendmentwarrior.webs.com

  • Anonymous

    Once you people realize that there is very little differernce between the two parties at the federal level( they both lie cheat and steal ) the easier it will be to put this country back together.  Liberals just steal/waste more with less results and  a lot more “holier than thou” attitude.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_ZIQS6YEA47QFXGOR4JWUBU2QRM Shark City

    His preaching about drinking water and it turned out his drinking wine. Why you little bitch?!

  • Anonymous

    The Buffet apologists posting here have no shame…or common sense.  Trying to make excuses for him.  He most certainly can pay those taxes and there is no law “preventing” him from doing so.  If there are, he can find a way around it, just like his company found a way around paying them.
    It’s unbelievable that the libs who scream at others to pay more taxes will spin and make excuses for one of their own when they don’t pay their own taxes…un-f-ing-believable.

  • Anonymous

    Nobody is saying they broke the law.  We are saying…well, you should already know what we’re saying.  There is no defense for a man who complains that he (and others) should pay more taxes, but then owns a company that owes almost 10 years of back taxes.  It falls on deaf ears and defines hypocrisy.

  • Anonymous

    No wonder Obama loves him asks for advise from him. He fits right in with the rest of the tax cheats Obama has surrounded himself with.

  • Anonymous

    America ranks 27th of 28 OECD nations in Least Taxed
    America ranks 25th of 28 OECD nations on Equality
    America took in 9% of GDP in Individual taxes in 2010
    Lowest since 1953
    America taxed in 2010 corporations 1% of GDP. Lowest in history
    America borrowed 6000 Billion which aided increase in wealth of wealthiest
    during 2001-2009 .
    INEQUALITY FACT CHECH
    5% own 62% Net Wealth in America
    80% own 15%
    20% own 93% Financial Wealth in America
    80% own 7%
    25% take 67% of Individual Income in America
    70,000,000 take 13%
    SCORE–222/35= INEQUALITY LEADER
    clarence swinney
    Lifeaholics of America
    No Safety Nets in America it would be Burn Baby Bur

    n

  • Anonymous

    Except this isn’t hypocrisy at all, it’s actually proving his point.  This is an example of the one of the many loopholes to avoid paying taxes that Warren’s op-ed was pointing out.  Warren highlighted how the mega rich aren’t paying their fair share including himself.

  • Anonymous

    Conservative ignorance never ceases to amaze.

  • Anonymous

    You idiot. Warren Buffet is Obama’s dummy & getting away with trying to look good. He should pay up now for just telling the American people a Lie & a half or maybe a double whammy.

  • Anonymous

    They all are cheats of everything & stand for nothing good & Honorable. Warren Buffett if he wants to be fair all he has to do is absolve all his businesses entities, pay his people, pay his taxes & give the rest to the American people not to Obama but the American people, & then simply go away & get out of our government & our lives. Preach to those willing to listen to you after you have no more money & very little respect.

  • Texan

    release the lips…

  • Michelle

    How am I being ignorant?  Saying you want to pay more taxes while you are not even paying the ones you are required to pay, seems like a great example of hypocrisy to me libbie!

  • stork1938

    There is no loop hole here, they flat out owe the taxes from disallowed wrtie offs . Get a clue lib !!

  • Anonymous

    Loopholes are not mandatory, people choose to use them.  You can’t put your hand on a hot stove and then blame the burner. 

  • Anonymous

    All those talking points are wiped out by one stat-
    5-10% of wage earners pay 60-70% of all INCOME taxes.
    or
    1% pay 38% of all INCOME taxes.
    or
    50% pay 0% INCOME taxes.
    Checkmate.

  • Anonymous

    Fact: Almighty Tax God You have let another demarodent escape
    taxation even though they demand more taxes for all others.

  • Anonymous

    Warren Buffett said that the rich should pay more taxes.  Warren Buffett did not say that no one has the right to dispute their tax bill.  That’s the right of any American.  That doesn’t change his point.  It is legal to pay as small amount in taxes as you can – legally.  He hasn’t done anything illegal, nor has he done anything hypocritical.

  • Anonymous

    He’s saying that the tax rate for rich individuals and corporations should be higher.  He’s not saying that you shouldn’t use any legal means to avoid (as opposed to evade) taxes.  The taxes owed have been legally disputed.

  • Anonymous

    Hypocrisy would be if he advocated paying a higher tax rate and then illegally did not pay taxes.  So, no this does not define hypocrisy.

  • Anonymous

    Hold your checkmate.  400 people control 95% of the wealth.  The country was in much better shape in the 1950′s when the tax rate for the rich was at 90% and they weren’t complaining about paying to high a tax.  The reason 50% of the country doesn’t pay taxes is because they don’t have any money.  When will you be happy – when 1 person controls 100% of the money, or would you prefer 5 people control 99% of the money?  Why do you defend the shrinking of the middle class?

  • Anonymous

    Fact: you’re still an idiot

  • Anonymous

    Corporations are people.  This isn’t Warren Buffet not paying his taxes.  This is some guy named Berkshire Hathaway not paying his taxes.

  • Anonymous

    When will you be happy?  When the top 5% pays 95%…or even 100%?  Your numbers don’t add up anyway  Even the complete confiscation of “the rich”‘s money would not solve a damn thing.  I certainly not in that bracket, but those people pay for my services and I will be the first one out of a job when they have less money.
    We need to reform the tax code with something similar to a flat or fair tax with no loopholes, subsidies, or earned income credit scams, and more importantly – NO REFUNDS, especially for more than you paid in.  Everybody pays something, yes even the bottom 50%.  Even if it’s only a small % (1-5).  Those at the top should pay 20-30%, no breaks, loopholes or credits.
    Your comment is just the 2nd round of Clarence’s Lib/Prog tax-the-rich-success-envy talking points.

  • Anonymous

    Maybe you haven’t been reading the news, but that’s exactly what he does.  He wants the rich to pay more tax, yet he tries to avoid paying.  Maybe it’s a little too simple for someone as intellectual as yourself.  Try not to overthink it.
    There has NEVER been a more clear example of a hypocrisy.  This is definitely a teachable moment.  I know I’m learning a lot…but not from Buffett…from those who try to defend him.

  • Anonymous

    Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean he has to do it.  He could just order his accountants to pay.  If they refuse or advise him not to, he should fire them.  If he wants GovCo to get more tax money, he should start by showing some leadership.
    Buffet advocates a higher tax rate for the rich, but goes out of his way by paying thousands, if not millions, to accountants to keep his taxes as low as possible.  It might be legal but it’s not MANDATORY!
    Buffett is now a proud card-carrying member of the Geitner/Rangle/Nagin Club.

  • Marge

    Anyone can dispute their tax bills. Corporations do this ALL THE TIME. The QUESTION IS whether, under the current law, BH actually owes these taxes. UNDER THE LAW IS the fine point. Get it yet?

  • Marge

    Do you actually KNOW if he (Buffett) has PAID HIS PERSONAL INCOME TAXES, genius. since he was talking about personal income taxes ?

  • nota

    Let’s not forget Buffet just made a cool $1.4 billion in a single day from just one single stake:
    Buffett’s Bank of America Stake Reaps $1.3 Billion Paper Profit on Day One
    http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-25/buffett-s-bank-of-america-stakes-net-1-4-billion-in-profit-on-first-day.html

    Yes, he invested $5 billion in Bank of America’s “preferred” stock and on his first day he profited $1.3 billion….

  • Rds

    How do you know,are you a tax attorney

  • Rds

    He can still make his points and pay his taxes

  • Anonymous

    To Marge – Do you even know if he has paid any income tax?

  • Anonymous

    Your solution is no better than mine – if the bottom 50% pay 1-5% and the top pay 20-30%, that still doesn’t “solve a damn thing”.   We agree that the more money you make, the more tax you should pay.  I’m obviously not advocating that anyone pays 100%, but currently, those making a BILLION are paying more as a percentage than those that make $150,000.  That’s not right no matter how you phrase it or what statistics you use.

    Secondly, when the rich were taxes at 90% (which I am not advocating) umemployment rate was low.  It is false to say that taxing the rich will eliminate jobs.

    You want to make someone who can’t afford food for their kids pay a portion of the minimum wage they take home after working two jobs, making $15,000 chip in?  When  Lady Gaga spends more on her “meat outfit” than that family makes in two years?

    I also agree about the tax code reform, I just don’t know if it will ever get passed (blame it on whoever).

    I didn’t read Clarence’s comment until just now, but it seems like a list of facts as opposed to talking points.

  • Anonymous

    It’s legal to “avoid” paying taxes.  It’s illegal to “evade” taxes.   

     You can say that the electric company doesn’t charge you enough and still try to keep your electric bill low by shutting off your lights.  That doesn’t make you a hypocrite.

    Buffett is a good businessman.  Making use of favorable legal accounting procedures makes good business sense.   To have the opinion that the tax rate for millionaires and billioinaires is too low is not being hypocritical.

    Even if I weren’t defending Warren Buffett, it’s a case of simple definition.  It’s like the song “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette.   There’s no irony in the song.  “Rain on your wedding day” may be sad, but it’s not ironic.  Saying that you believe in higher taxes for the wealthy and legally disputing taxes is not, by definition, hypocritical.

  • Anonymous

    Buffett is a good businessman.  He runs a corporation.  Corporations are REQUIRED to maximize profit.  As a supporter of “conservative capitalism” you should admire this.

    Buffett does advocate higher tax rates for the rich.  To keep the taxes as low as possible is legal, intelligent and in order to fulfill his obligation to the stockholders of Berkshire Hathaway – MANDATORY.

  • Anonymous

    No, I’m a businessman

  • a REAL businessman

    If it wasn’t for double standards, they’d have no standards at all.

  • a REAL businessman

    We already have the 2nd highest corp. tax rate in the world.  That’s one of the things, along with excessive govt. regulation that is driving companies offshore.  You know, like GE – run by Obama’s buddy Immelt.  Oh yeah, when they go offshore, they pay NO taxes, like GE.  Raising corp. taxes even more is just killing the golden goose.  The trick is to bleed it without killing it – get more taxes over the long haul that way.

  • Anonymous

    Topping out at 35 percent, America’s official corporate income tax rate trails that of only Japan, at 39.5 percent, which has said it plans to lower its rate. It is nearly triple Ireland’s and 10 percentage points higher than in Denmark, Austria or China. To help companies here stay competitive, many executives say, Congress should lower it. But by taking advantage of myriad breaks and loopholes that other countries generally do not offer, United States corporations pay only slightly more on average than their counterparts in other industrial countries. And some American corporations use aggressive strategies to pay less — often far less — than their competitors abroad and at home. A Government Accountability Office study released in 2008 found that 55 percent of United States companies paid no federal income taxes during at least one year in a seven-year period it studied.
    The paradox of the United States tax code — high rates with a bounty of subsidies, shelters and special breaks — has made American multinationals “world leaders in tax avoidance,” according to Edward D. Kleinbard, a professor at the University of Southern California who was head of the Congressional joint committee on taxes. This has profound implications for businesses, the economy and the federal budget.

  • Anonymous

     http://www.lovetoshopping.org 

  • sighthndman

    You got any evidence whatsoever for your less results more “holier than thou” attitude?  Other than reading Ann Coulter books and listening to Rush Limbaugh (does anyone listen to Rush anymore?).

  • sighthndman

    You’ve been taken in by sloppy reporting.  As someone posted above,  corporations are people too.  (That’s a US Supreme Court ruling, by the way, not a “personal opinion”.)  It’s sexier to make it sound like Buffett is making a $1.3 billion profit, but it’s Berkshire Hathaway that made the investment and the profit.  Sure, Buffett calls the shots, but it’s not a one man show.  He has advisors and specialist professionals and gofers (oops, the company does), and I don’t even know what percentage Buffett owns.

    But he saw a profit opportunity.  I’m sure fa $5 billion deal required his signoff.

  • sighthndman

    And to go one step further, shareholder suits against directors have an extremely low likelihood of winning.  The board of directors simply has the latitude to make choices and use its discretion to do what’s best in its judgment for the shareholders.  The one case where the shareholders would have a chance of winning is if the company decided to pay taxes they didn’t owe.  “We don’t owe these taxes but we’re going to pay extra because we think it would be good for the country.”  Well, directors, I think you’ve just paid the amount above the legally required minimum out of your own funds, not out of company money.

    Note that this is different from settling a dispute with the IRS.  “We think the IRS’s position is baseless and without merit, but in the interest of saving legal fees and resolving uncertainty, we are settling for an amount above what we think the court probably would have agreed is our liability.”  But we’re not taking chances.  That wording also protects us from shareholder lawsuits.

  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous
  • Anonymous

    Not all corporations can get these loopholes…. When an investor anywhere in the world wants to start a business, the posted tax rate is a huge deciding factor. Hence why the majority of it hads to China and India.

    You want investment capital to make its way back here? Lower the corporate tax rate to levels comparable to China or better… I’m beginning to think liberals don’t give a rats a$$ about the economy, they don’t give a rats a$$ about higher revenue to the treasury. It just merely makes them feel good to stick it to someone who is successful. It’s called wealth envy. You are jealous of people who are successful. You don’t want to ever be successful, just as long as nobody else is allowed to be.

    A conseravtive sees a rich man across the street, he thinks to himself, “man Im going to try to be rich”

    A liberal sees a rich man across the street and immediately fantasizes about the government stealing his money and making him poor.

    Taxing the rich is mental masturbation for liberals and progressives.

  • majorityleft

    It’s Berkshire, not Buffet with the IRS.  Buffet has given 35 Billion away to Gates’ charity— so your Buffet smear campaign is a joke.

    The top 1% happens to make as much as the total of the lowest 150,000 earners.  THAT’S HALF THE TOTAL POPULATION.

  • majorityleft

     Buffet owes nothing to IRS –  Berkshire is a corporation therefore a different person…so you repub-tbaggers are trying to smear and slander the wrong guy.
    Buffet has given 35 billion of his money away to the Gates’ charity…let me guess, you hate charities now also? The top 1% needs to donate their money also or at least pay 50% in taxes- 38% plus all the loop holes is weak and not enough to cover the bush debt– - —stop fighting for the rich — they will never invite you to their country clubs or on their yachts or to the Mansions…if you showed up at their doors and told them you are a repub tabg and you have been fighting for their money as hard as you can…they’d have you arrested.

  • http://www.isol.co.in/ IntegratedS

    I
    like to say that dividends are higher than those of common stocks. If the
    company goes bankrupt, you have a better chance of getting some money back than
    common shareholders.
     

    preferred
    share

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