Buffett Calls Trump’s Bluff and Releases His Tax Data
Buffett Calls Trump’s Bluff and Releases His Tax Data
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© Charlie Riedel/Associated Press Warren E. Buffett, the chief of Berkshire Hathaway, said in a letter released on Monday, “I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944.” Warren E. Buffett is not running for president. But on Monday, Mr. Buffett, the billionaire investor, volunteered more detailed information about his income taxes than Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, ever has.
Mr. Buffett released the information after essentially being called out by Mr. Trump during Sunday night’s presidential debate .
Acknowledging for the first time that he had avoided paying federal income taxes for years by claiming nearly a billion dollars in losses in 1995, Mr. Trump then tried to shift attention to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, accusing some of her wealthy supporters of exploiting tax laws to their own advantage.
“Many of her friends took bigger deductions,” Mr. Trump said. “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.”
Actually, he did not.
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“I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944,” Mr. Buffett wrote in a letter released Monday.
“My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931,” he revealed. “My deductions totaled $5,477,694.” About two-thirds of those represented charitable contributions, he said. Most of the rest were related to Mr. Buffett’s state income tax payments.
Mr. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest men in the world, went on to say: “My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.”
Last year, Mr. Buffett paid about 16 percent of his reported income in federal income taxes.
“I have copies of all 72 of my returns,” Mr. Buffett added, “and none uses a carry forward,” the provision that allows taxpayers like Mr. Trump to use losses from one year to avoid paying personal federal income taxes both on some previous tax returns and in future years.
Mr. Trump had previously claimed, without producing any evidence , that Mr. Buffett declared $873 million in losses.
As it turns out, the charitable contributions that Mr. Buffett did deduct from his income make up just a tiny portion of the more than $2.85 billion he donated to charity last year, he said. The reason is that the tax code limits the amount that an individual can claim in charitable deductions. Mr. Buffett, 86, has pledged to give most of his $65 billion fortune away.
By contrast, Mr. Trump’s own charitable foundations — and his claims about his personal contributions — have come under scrutiny. Last week the New York attorney general ordered the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop soliciting donations in the state because it lacked the required registration. And many of the donations that Mr. Trump had publicly boasted of turned out to have come from other people’s pockets, like those who had given money to the Trump Foundation.
Three pages of Mr. Trump’s income tax returns from 1995 obtained by The New York Times show that he claimed $916 million in losses.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly refused to release his federal income tax returns, defying the practice of presidential candidates going back four decades. He and his campaign have offered varying reasons, but the excuse most frequently invoked is that he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The I.R.S. said that an audit does not prevent Mr. Trump from making his returns public.
Mr. Buffett made the same point. “I have been audited by the I.R.S. multiple times and am currently being audited,” he wrote in the letter. “I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem.”
The Trump campaign had no comment on Mr. Buffett’s letter.
Mr. Buffett’s tax strategies were drawn into the debate when Mr. Trump blamed Mrs. Clinton for not doing more when she was a senator to fix the tax code and close loopholes that favored Wall Street and wealthy campaign donors. Mrs. Clinton, who has pledged to raise taxes on rich Americans, while Mr. Trump’s plans would sharply reduce them, responded that a Republican-controlled Congress had repeatedly blocked such efforts.
Mr. Buffett declined to comment further on his letter. George Soros, another billionaire entrepreneur who has supported the Clinton campaign, was also singled out by Mr. Trump for claiming outsize deductions of $1.5 billion on his taxes. A spokesman for Mr. Soros, Michael Vachon, said he had no comment.
Mr. Buffett has frequently criticized tax laws and loopholes for enabling him to pay a smaller share of his income in taxes than his secretary. The so-called Buffett rule, which has been endorsed by Mrs. Clinton, would require people who earn more than $5 million to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.
Mr. Buffett did concede that his tax payments have, at times, been much smaller. In 1944, he admitted, when he was just 13, “I owed only $7 in tax that year.”
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''Mr. Buffett made the same point. “I have been audited by the I.R.S. multiple times and am currently being audited,” he wrote in the letter. “I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem.”
Trump as usual without any proof again put his foot in his mouth with his claim about Buffett.
Now what Trump?
Way to go, Mr. Buffett!!!
Agreed Dowser...Let's see if Trump is willing to take on Buffett.. I doubt it.
His foot? Not just his foot - his whole leg.
That and the other foot as well Buzz.
Buffett, IMO would make a much better candidate than Trump is or ever could be.
Trump may likely be hiding his indebtedness to Russian oligarchs, and, consequently to the Sphere of Putin.
He sure is doing his best not to disclose his tax returns...
Makes you wonder why.
Berkshire Hathaway spends a lot of money lobbying. They don't won't to rock the boat with all the connections they been buying since Obama got elected.
Dean, the article is about Trump making claims about Buffett, and Buffett called his bluff and made Trump look like an ass.
BTW, hope that you have a couple of shares of BH.
I don't see any tax information that Buffett has provided. Anyone can say anything. Trump did, Buffett did, but neither one has produced any evidence as the title of this article indicates.
Buffett Calls Trump’s Bluff and Releases His Tax Data
Where's the data? Maybe I missed it. If it is in the article or anywhere, please provide it or a link to it.
He announced exact figures - do you believe Buffet would lie about it?
Of course not. He also said his secretary paid a higher tax rate than he did. He could have paid more, if he had taken it as income if he wanted to, but he had already (well, probably not him) paid income taxes on the money he received. His money comes from Long Term Capital Gains taxed at 20% for him. He can throw some deductions in there and come out at 16% very easily while his net worth has increased from $33 Billion to $65 Billion since 2013. Where's that other money? Well, it's tied up in the companies tax shelters for Buffett.
Where's that other money? Well, it's tied up in the companies tax shelters for Buffett.
Warren Buffett gives $2.9 billion to charity, again
Charitable Donations
Most of Buffett’s$65 billion fortune comes from his controlling interest in Berkshire. The company doesn’t pay a dividend and, for decades, Buffett has asked the board to keep his annual salary at $100,000. The 86-year-old is steadily giving away his Berkshire shares to philanthropy.
This iframe is not allowed
Well good for him! Isn't that nice. Let's see some of those charity receipts.
Six, this isn't about MSN...Either stick to the topic or find another article troll.
BTW, Fortune and USA Today both have the story, plus a few others.
Some Tax Facts for Donald Trump
OMAHA, Neb.--( BUSINESS WIRE )--Answering a question last night about his $916 million income tax loss carryforward in 1995, Donald Trump stated that “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.” Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human. He has not seen my income tax returns. But I am happy to give him the facts.
My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931. My deductions totaled $5,477,694, of which allowable charitable contributions were $3,469,179. All but $36,037 of the remainder was for state income taxes.
The total charitable contributions I made during the year were $2,858,057,970, of which more than $2.85 billion were not taken as deductions and never will be. Tax law properly limits charitable deductions.
My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.
I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944, when I was 13. (Though, being a slow starter, I owed only $7 in tax that year.) I have copies of all 72 of my returns and none uses a carryforward.
Finally, I have been audited by the IRS multiple times and am currently being audited. I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump – at least he would have no legal problem.
Contacts
Warren E. Buffett, 402-346-1400
Omaha, Nebraska
Mr. Trump says he knows more about taxes than any other human.
Trump may not have known what he was talking about, but maybe he did. There's no proof either way, but there is proof on numerous occasions how corrupt the MSM is, but don't worry about it, we've become accustomed to how corrupt the Democrats are and will lie, cheat and steal to get their way.
Six, this isn't about MSN...Either stick to the topic or find another article troll.
BTW, Fortune and USA Today both have the story, plus a few others.
Can you show me where Trump has paid taxes, or given to charity? No, geez then you should really quit bitching.
It helps AMac to read your copy/paste so you don't have a title......
Some Tax Facts for Donald Trump
and what I assume suppose to be facts about Buffett's taxes, although I haven't seen them, have you? isn't it nice that Buffett can nail it right down to the dollar. Wow!!!
It's not hard to get right to the penny if your reading from your tax return Six.
Warren E. Buffett is not running for president. But on Monday, Mr. Buffett, the billionaire investor, volunteered more detailed information about his income taxes than Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, ever has.
Mr. Buffett released the information after essentially being called out by Mr. Trump during Sunday night’s presidential debate .
Acknowledging for the first time that he had avoided paying federal income taxes for years by claiming nearly a billion dollars in losses in 1995, Mr. Trump then tried to shift attention to his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, accusing some of her wealthy supporters of exploiting tax laws to their own advantage.
“Many of her friends took bigger deductions,” Mr. Trump said. “Warren Buffett took a massive deduction.”
Actually, he did not.
“I have paid federal income tax every year since 1944,” Mr. Buffett wrote in a letter released Monday.
“My 2015 return shows adjusted gross income of $11,563,931,” he revealed. “My deductions totaled $5,477,694.” About two-thirds of those represented charitable contributions, he said. Most of the rest were related to Mr. Buffett’s state income tax payments.
Mr. Buffett, the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway and one of the richest men in the world, went on to say: “My federal income tax for the year was $1,845,557. Returns for previous years are of a similar nature in respect to contributions, deductions and tax rates.”
Last year, Mr. Buffett paid about 16 percent of his reported income in federal income taxes.
“I have copies of all 72 of my returns,” Mr. Buffett added, “and none uses a carry forward,” the provision that allows taxpayers like Mr. Trump to use losses from one year to avoid paying personal federal income taxes both on some previous tax returns and in future years.
Mr. Trump had previously claimed, without producing any evidence , that Mr. Buffett declared $873 million in losses.
As it turns out, the charitable contributions that Mr. Buffett did deduct from his income make up just a tiny portion of the more than $2.85 billion he donated to charity last year, he said. The reason is that the tax code limits the amount that an individual can claim in charitable deductions. Mr. Buffett, 86, has pledged to give most of his $65 billion fortune away.
By contrast, Mr. Trump’s own charitable foundations — and his claims about his personal contributions — have come under scrutiny. Last week the New York attorney general ordered the Donald J. Trump Foundation to stop soliciting donations in the state because it lacked the required registration. And many of the donations that Mr. Trump had publicly boasted of turned out to have come from other people’s pockets, like those who had given money to the Trump Foundation.
Three pages of Mr. Trump’s income tax returns from 1995 obtained by The New York Times show that he claimed $916 million in losses.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly refused to release his federal income tax returns, defying the practice of presidential candidates going back four decades. He and his campaign have offered varying reasons, but the excuse most frequently invoked is that he is under audit by the Internal Revenue Service. The I.R.S. said that an audit does not prevent Mr. Trump from making his returns public.
Mr. Buffett made the same point. “I have been audited by the I.R.S. multiple times and am currently being audited,” he wrote in the letter. “I have no problem in releasing my tax information while under audit. Neither would Mr. Trump — at least he would have no legal problem.”
The Trump campaign had no comment on Mr. Buffett’s letter.
Mr. Buffett’s tax strategies were drawn into the debate when Mr. Trump blamed Mrs. Clinton for not doing more when she was a senator to fix the tax code and close loopholes that favored Wall Street and wealthy campaign donors. Mrs. Clinton, who has pledged to raise taxes on rich Americans, while Mr. Trump’s plans would sharply reduce them, responded that a Republican-controlled Congress had repeatedly blocked such efforts.
Mr. Buffett declined to comment further on his letter. George Soros, another billionaire entrepreneur who has supported the Clinton campaign, was also singled out by Mr. Trump for claiming outsize deductions of $1.5 billion on his taxes. A spokesman for Mr. Soros, Michael Vachon, said he had no comment.
Mr. Buffett has frequently criticized tax laws and loopholes for enabling him to pay a smaller share of his income in taxes than his secretary. The so-called Buffett rule, which has been endorsed by Mrs. Clinton, would require people who earn more than $5 million to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.
Mr. Buffett did concede that his tax payments have, at times, been much smaller. In 1944, he admitted, when he was just 13, “I owed only $7 in tax that year.”
So he didn't release his taxes?
Buffett’s 72 Returns
“I have copies of all 72 of my returns,” Buffett wrote Monday. “And none uses a carry forward.”
“I have copies of all 72 of my returns,” Buffett wrote Monday. “And none uses a carry forward.”
Think we should believe him or the OpenSecrets site that shows where quite a bit of his money goes? And I might add it took off in 2009 like a rocket right after Obama told the whole country there wouldn't be any more of that in his Obamanation uh I mean Administration!!!!!
LOL Six, you are really a funny guy. This is about his income tax paid. Not about what BH stock has done. Buffett has been a billionaire for years and years and years.
Here is a link for you to read about the ''giving pledge'' a group that Buffett started for charity..
Berkshire Hathaway has full ownership of GEICO, Applied Underwriters, General Re, Kansas Bankers Surety Company, National Indemnity Company, Central States Indemnity Company, Wesco Financial Corporation, The Pampered Chef, See's Candies, Fechheimer Brothers Company, Garan Children's Clothing, H.H. Brown Shoe Group, Justin Brands, CORT Business Services, Jordan's Furniture, Larson-Juhl, Star Furniture, Acme Brick Company, Benjamin Moore & Co., Clayton Homes, ISCAR Metalworking, Johns Manville, Precision Steel Warehouse Inc., The Buffalo News, Business Wire, Omaha World-Herald, XTRA Corporation, McLane Company, Ben Bridge Jewelers, Borsheim's Fine Jewelry, Helzberg Diamonds, Scott Fetzer Companies, NetJets, NetJets Europe, FlightSafety, CTB Inc., Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp., Blue Chip Stamps, SE Homes, Cavalier Homes, Lubrizol, Brooks Sports and Forest River.
The company holds the majority of United States Liability Insurance Group, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Nebraska Furniture Mart, MiTek, and Berkshire Hathaway Energy. They also hold 50% of H.J. Heinz Company.
The company also owns a significant portion of Mars Inc., Shaw Industries and RC Willey Home Furnishings, but the exact amount is not made available to the public.
Now tell me again.... how much money did he say he made? Don't you think something is a little fishy here. I smell old dead salmon, don't you?
Six, you may smell fishy, but these are his personal income tax returns. You do know the difference between personal and corporate taxes don't you?
You do know the difference between personal and corporate taxes don't you?
Yes I do. I'm sure you know the difference between income and Capital gains. And if he had taken the money he said he was paid as regular income and had a net income instead of Capital Gain with his stated deductions he would have a much higher income tax rate. But it doesn't make any difference, he's worth 20 times what Trump is worth, isn't in the same line of business and the article is about two people saying something but neither one of them producing any evidence to prove what they have said.
Buffett giving to charity is well documented. In fact in another comment I gave you a link.
And I'm well aware of the difference between capital gains and ordinary income..But that really isn't the crux of the article is it, Six?.....
First of all, it's irrelevant that the IRS doesn't prevent disclosure of a tax return under audit. No competent tax attorney would recommend such a disclosure.
Second, Buffett is not a tax attorney.
Third, Buffett's income is derived from capital gains and dividends, not from real estate transactions and leasing his name like Trump.
Fourth, Buffett released tax "data" not an actual tax return. He did say that this "data" is consistent with earlier returns and he once gave one of his returns to Charlie Rose to examine. That examination fills in some of the gaps for this "data." Basically, Buffett uses a charitable deduction scheme to save billions. Most of his income, as I noted, is from long-term capital gains and qualifying dividends taxed at only 15%. Only a relatively small amount is ordinary income taxed at the 35% rate. He takes the maximum 30% charitable contribution for appreciated property. His charitable contribution is offsetting his entire ordinary income and offsets his capital gains income. He also avoids the alternative minimum tax of 28% and the 35% estate tax. He may not be using the same carry forward provision that Trump uses but he had a $10 billion dollar carryover in charitable contributions for subsequent use. There are more details in the linked article. To me, this simply confirms the obvious -- everybody uses the tax code to their advantage (I give Buffett credit for giving away a lot of the money he saves in this scheme).
I don't believe Buffett ever said that he didn't use legal deductions available to him....
The article is about Trump making a statement about Buffett's taxes and he got called out on it.
I don't see anything meaningful that buffett rebutted.
One see's what they want to see 1ofmany.
One see's what they want to see 1ofmany
A statement that applies to everyone kavika.