Warren Buffet on Immigration

I have mentioned the legendary investor Warren Buffet before. It was in the context of him trying to persuade us that our income tax regime is wildly skewed in favor of the "rich" and that the "rich" should pay more taxes. He tried to make the case that his assistant who makes about $100K per year pays more taxes than he does. It is probably true, but it does not do anything in  furtherance of his point. His comparison, as I explained, was apples to oranges. (You will have to scroll to the last entry on the linked page to read the post.)

I mention in the post that, in my opinion Buffet is a liar.

He has recently sought fit to opine on the current hot-button issue of immigration.

Here too Buffet is being deceptive. He says, " “Well, immigration, this country is built on it. I always say to people that are anti-immigration, ‘let’s put it in retroactively.’ And everybody leaves,” the 86-year-old billionaire said on a panel with his friend Bill Gates on Friday at Columbia University in New York."

Do you know, or have you ever known anyone for whom you have any respect at all who is anti-immigration? I didn't think so. I haven't either. So why does he misrepresent the issues?  Why would the other panelists or audience members not point out that the issues actually being discussed are illegal immigration and immigration from failed Muslim states so we could hear Buffet's opinions on the actual issues? I don't know either.

I find it impossible to believe that he does not know what the issues actually are. I think he is doing what liberals always do. Ridicule people who don't agree with them in the hope of embarrassing them into silence.

You want more Trump? This is how you get more Trump.

Silly Warren

Warren Buffet, among the richest people in the world, has declared that he doesn't think he pays enough taxes and that the rich should pay more. As James Tarranto pointed out in Monday's Best of the Web at http://www.opinionjournal.com/, he can always send in money to the "Gifts to the Treasury" address if he wants to pay more. Don't hold your breath.

In fact, Buffet is an excellent example of the "say one thing, do another" culture that makes the sanctimony of the left so amusing and annoying.

Buffet complains that he pays less federal tax, as a percentage of his income, than do any of his employees. No doubt this is true. The reason for this is obvious: Most of his income is either dividends (often not taxed at all) or capital gains, taxed at 15%. Neither of these sources of income is subject to Social Security taxes, which end at $92,500(a much greater percentage of his employees' incomes than his own) anyway. His argument is knowingly misleading. That makes him a liar, not an advocate. What he really should be saying is that he wants you and me to pay more taxes.

The hypocrisy does not end there. A year or two ago he announced that the bulk of his estate would be distributed to charitable foundations before his demise. There is one reason to do this: To avoid estate taxes.

How pathetic.