Buffett backs U.S. estate tax, decries wealth gap
I was reading this article the other day and thinking "Holy cow, no wonder the guy tap-dances to work".
First, by pledging to the Gates Foundation he's essentially found a way to divest himself of his fortune so that he "only" has a few billion left to deal with for the rest of his life. (Anyway I don't think he was worrying that Astrid or the kids would put him in a Medicaid factory.) For the rest of us, this sense of accomplishment is similar to that felt by gazing back upon a pristine yard after spending several hours raking up all the fallen leaves. Green waste indeed.
Second, he's at a point in his life where he can bend the policy-making ear of just about any politician, Republican or Democrat, including several ex-presidents and probably a number of future ones. It must be extremely ego-gratifying to receive this validation at a time in life when elders are concerned about their legacy.
Third, he's sticking up for the little guy. He's advocating sock-it-to-the-rich estate taxes that he's happy to pay while also trying to help those with smaller fortunes avoid having to sell the farm to pay the estate tax.
At this point in my fond reverie, my sense of cynicism kicked in. It occurred to me that many of today's Berkshire Hathaway companies joined the club precisely to solve their estate-planning problems. When an entrepreneur spends decades building his business and achieves a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, it's extremely difficult to structure the succession to avoid having to pay a crippling estate tax-- especially if the entrepreneur wants to retain control. Berkshire Hathaway, though, stands ready with all the cash (or BRK stock if necessary) needed to help these people sell their cakes and eat them too.
No wonder he advocates a strong estate tax. Congress is considering helping Buffett drive dozens of entrepreneur's companies straight into Berkshire's fold... decades from now, Howard Buffett and all the rest of Buffett's successors will be very happy that Warren advocated such a strong estate tax.
I was reading this article the other day and thinking "Holy cow, no wonder the guy tap-dances to work".
First, by pledging to the Gates Foundation he's essentially found a way to divest himself of his fortune so that he "only" has a few billion left to deal with for the rest of his life. (Anyway I don't think he was worrying that Astrid or the kids would put him in a Medicaid factory.) For the rest of us, this sense of accomplishment is similar to that felt by gazing back upon a pristine yard after spending several hours raking up all the fallen leaves. Green waste indeed.
Second, he's at a point in his life where he can bend the policy-making ear of just about any politician, Republican or Democrat, including several ex-presidents and probably a number of future ones. It must be extremely ego-gratifying to receive this validation at a time in life when elders are concerned about their legacy.
Third, he's sticking up for the little guy. He's advocating sock-it-to-the-rich estate taxes that he's happy to pay while also trying to help those with smaller fortunes avoid having to sell the farm to pay the estate tax.
At this point in my fond reverie, my sense of cynicism kicked in. It occurred to me that many of today's Berkshire Hathaway companies joined the club precisely to solve their estate-planning problems. When an entrepreneur spends decades building his business and achieves a net worth of hundreds of millions of dollars, it's extremely difficult to structure the succession to avoid having to pay a crippling estate tax-- especially if the entrepreneur wants to retain control. Berkshire Hathaway, though, stands ready with all the cash (or BRK stock if necessary) needed to help these people sell their cakes and eat them too.
No wonder he advocates a strong estate tax. Congress is considering helping Buffett drive dozens of entrepreneur's companies straight into Berkshire's fold... decades from now, Howard Buffett and all the rest of Buffett's successors will be very happy that Warren advocated such a strong estate tax.