Before the Burger King-Tim Hortons deal was announced, Warren Buffett called Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, who would take over as chairman of the Finance Committee if the Republicans take over the Senate, "to gauge Congress's direction on curbing corporate inversions," Bloomberg News reports.
One can't blame Mr. Buffett for wanting to know what tax law Congress will pass before making his investment decisions. It does raise questions about whether that gives him an unfair advantage over other investors who may have a harder time getting a key senator on the phone. And it certainly calls into question his 2012 New York Times op-ed, in which he wrote that investors who turn down opportunities because of taxes exist "only in Grover Norquist's imagination."
