Warren Buffett on Justice

This week, a man said to the the 2nd richest billionaire in the world did an analysis of his income versus that of his secretary. He found out what many Americans will be surprised to know. Mr. Buffett pays considerably less of a percentage of his income for taxes than does his secretary. Mr. Buffett went on to suggest that most of the Fortune 500 executives were in the same boat…paying less percentage of their income in taxes than their secretaries. And Mr. Buffett offered a considerable sum of money to anyone who could prove otherwise. No one to date has taken him up on the offer. And the difference is significant. Eighteen percent of total income for Mr. Buffett. Thirty-three percent for his secretary.

America’s tax system should not create a culture whereby the extremely wealthy are freed from the burden placed upon the rest of the population. Interestingly, Mr. Buffett agrees. Percentage corrections in the tax code could eliminate such inequity and improve the economic picture for us all. We perhaps could return to rebuilding America’s infrastructure…bridges, sewage treatment plants, water systems, etc. and with a change in hostilities begin to apply some resources to the good rather than the battlegrounds.

I for one appreciate Mr. Buffett’s candor when it comes to his resources and what he sees as inequities, but it would also behoove the general population to observe that at some levels greed deserves not to be rewarded in the tax structure of the nation. Call for change. Write, petition for a redress of grievances. Vote. Apply the political pressure of a population that cares about its government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Liberty and justice for all may be a dream, but it is worth pursuing.

As the Old Testament prophet declared…”let justice roll down like a mighty stream.”