Billionaires

Reader comment on: Obama Versus the Billionaires

Submitted by Adam (United States), Sep 21, 2010 10:31

You make it sound like Buffett has some way of raising taxes on his competitors without raising them on himself. Your second jab at the Sage of Omaha is quite fair, so I don't know why you felt compelled to double down with a false and lousy innuendo.

More importantly, do you actually have an argument for why hedge fund managers shouldn't pay the normal tax rate on their income, as opposed to their capital gains? Let's be clear here. Hedge fund managers should not be taxed at a higher rate than everyone else. Nor should they be prevented from paying capital gains rates on their OWN capital gains. But they should have to pay normal income taxes on money they receive for managing other people's money. For them (as opposed to their clients) these are not capital gains and should not be taxed as such. They are a management fee, i.e. regular old income.

If you don't like income taxes, rail against the sixteenth amendment. But defending only the special privilege of a few makes you look like you're trying to ingratiate yourself with those so privileged.

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