Buffett on Taxes

Bloomberg News reports Warren Buffett calling for increased taxes on the "rich" as if it's news rather than something he's already said about a zillion times before. No one seems to ever follow up by asking how much Mr. Buffett has paid in taxes relative to his wealth. Mr. Buffett doesn't seem shy about giving public policy advice in public via the press, but it'd also be interesting to know what, if any, policy advice he gives privately to government officials and how it has panned out. Mr. Buffett says, "I think that people at the high end -- people like myself -- should be paying a lot more in taxes." Nothing is stopping him from doing so voluntarily. But instead he has structured his affairs — low annual salary, lots of unrealized long-term capital gains, a big charitable foundation to get around the estate tax — so as to minimize his taxes.