• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

Buffett Gives Kids Foundations $3 billion

washunut

DP Veteran
Joined
Nov 13, 2009
Messages
14,091
Reaction score
4,597
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Liberal
Buffett gives $3 billion to his kids' foundations - Aug. 30, 2012

Found this interesting. Warren Buffett of the Buffett rule just passed along $3 billion to his kids through trusts he set up. Now this person who wants folks like himself to pay at least 30% of their income in taxes never paid a penny of taxes on this money. Now that the money is in trust, his kids will be able to live off the money while running their charities and avoided the inheritance tax.

I find it interesting that someone who have gotten filthy rich by avoiding taxes for decades, both personally and at his company wants others to pay more.

Just seems like another amoral person eager to spend other people's money.
 
Buffett gives $3 billion to his kids' foundations - Aug. 30, 2012

Found this interesting. Warren Buffett of the Buffett rule just passed along $3 billion to his kids through trusts he set up. Now this person who wants folks like himself to pay at least 30% of their income in taxes never paid a penny of taxes on this money. Now that the money is in trust, his kids will be able to live off the money while running their charities and avoided the inheritance tax.

I find it interesting that someone who have gotten filthy rich by avoiding taxes for decades, both personally and at his company wants others to pay more.

Just seems like another amoral person eager to spend other people's money.

I find that interesting because I heard him interviewed several years ago, and he indicated his children would not be receiving any more of his wealth. Flip. Flop. :rofl

Perhaps he's doing that in anticipation of the inheritance tax being re-instated for, at least, people in his stratosphere.

Everybody lies...
 
Yea, he is only giving away what...37 Billion in charity?
 
Buffett gives $3 billion to his kids' foundations - Aug. 30, 2012

Found this interesting. Warren Buffett of the Buffett rule just passed along $3 billion to his kids through trusts he set up.

Umm, do y'all have a reading problem? Buffett passd the money to CHARITIES that his kids have set up. He did not pass the money to his KIDS -- unlike Mitt Romney, who did in fact use a complicated legal maneuver to pass $100 million to his kids tax free.
 
sorry op, but you have stepped in it or on it with this thread
Warren Buffett has done exactly what he has long pronounced he would do
distribute the bulk of his wealth to accomplish those things government is not well positioned to do
this is just his latest distribution, recognizing his kids are spending it in a manner he approves
his actions deserve praise and none of the ridicule you attempted to heap upon him
which causes you to now have to wear it instead
 
Umm, do y'all have a reading problem? Buffett passd the money to CHARITIES that his kids have set up. He did not pass the money to his KIDS -- unlike Mitt Romney, who did in fact use a complicated legal maneuver to pass $100 million to his kids tax free.

Yeah, I missed that. So you think he hasn't used our perfectly legal tax code to shift money then? I think you would be wrong. Blame Congress. Do not blame the people who take advantage of the ridiculousness that is our current tax code.

And here are the enormous benefits of charitable foundations:

Nonetheless, a billion dollars, even when held by a charitable foundation and managed in accordance with laws governing such foundations, is an extremely powerful tool. Any private foundation holding $1 billion worth of securities, for example, is required by law every year to give away a minimum of five percent of that total sum, which comes out to $50 million. Anyone who makes annual donations of that size is guaranteed to wield immense influence. And it should also be noted that there is nothing preventing the trustees, or governors, of any foundation from making contributions to not-for-profit projects of their own creation. An art lover could start an art institute, a nature lover could build a wildlife sanctuary—the possibilities for personal gratification [Maggie: and personal financial enrichment] through foundation work are abundant.
 
Yeah, I missed that. So you think he hasn't used our perfectly legal tax code to shift money then? I think you would be wrong. Blame Congress. Do not blame the people who take advantage of the ridiculousness that is our current tax code.

I have no reason to believe that he's used the tax code to shift money to them. And blaming Congress is exactly what Buffett is doing. Generally speaking I don't blame people for taking advantage of tax breaks, but I do hold presidential candidates to a higher standard than most people.
 
I have no reason to believe that he's used the tax code to shift money to them. And blaming Congress is exactly what Buffett is doing. Generally speaking I don't blame people for taking advantage of tax breaks, but I do hold presidential candidates to a higher standard than most people.

Only the other party's. Please don't even pretend to be knowledgeable about Buffett's finances, Romney's finances, or our complicated inside-out-zig-zag tax code. You know only what the media spews. Industry icons have much to offer our country when it comes to economics and creating jobs. Industry icons are not poor people.
 
Only the other party's. Please don't even pretend to be knowledgeable about Buffett's finances, Romney's finances, or our complicated inside-out-zig-zag tax code. You know only what the media spews. Industry icons have much to offer our country when it comes to economics and creating jobs. Industry icons are not poor people.

I'm not pretending to know about Buffett's finances; I believe you have that all sewn up: "So you think he hasn't used our perfectly legal tax code to shift money then? I think you would be wrong."
 
Umm, do y'all have a reading problem? Buffett passd the money to CHARITIES that his kids have set up. He did not pass the money to his KIDS -- unlike Mitt Romney, who did in fact use a complicated legal maneuver to pass $100 million to his kids tax free.

Please learn to read a little more thoroughly. I said that he gave the money to the trusts run by his children. They are allowed to get paid by the trusts. A simple way to avoid the inheritance tax rules.

I think you know this, and is a little slimy to try and parse what he did. Look, nothing illegal. Generation skipping is a topic for lawyers and accountants who have a tax practice.

It just seems ironic that someone who says the rich need to pay their "fair share" does everything he can to avoid paying any taxes. Let's remember that he has paid no income tax on the rise of value of the shares he is passing to the trust. Now, no one ever will.
 
Yeah, I missed that. So you think he hasn't used our perfectly legal tax code to shift money then? I think you would be wrong. Blame Congress. Do not blame the people who take advantage of the ridiculousness that is our current tax code.

And here are the enormous benefits of charitable foundations:

Again, he did not pass this to charities, but to trusts run by his kids who use the trusts to do things. The kids can pay themselves millions out of that trust legally.
 
I'm not pretending to know about Buffett's finances; I believe you have that all sewn up: "So you think he hasn't used our perfectly legal tax code to shift money then? I think you would be wrong."

If you do not know about the finances of Buffett then you seem to self acknowledge that you can only act as a partisan on this issue without understanding the underlying facts.
 
Again, he did not pass this to charities, but to trusts run by his kids who use the trusts to do things. The kids can pay themselves millions out of that trust legally.

Glad you get it. Most people don't.
 
Please learn to read a little more thoroughly. I said that he gave the money to the trusts run by his children. They are allowed to get paid by the trusts. A simple way to avoid the inheritance tax rules.

I think you know this, and is a little slimy to try and parse what he did. Look, nothing illegal. Generation skipping is a topic for lawyers and accountants who have a tax practice.

It just seems ironic that someone who says the rich need to pay their "fair share" does everything he can to avoid paying any taxes. Let's remember that he has paid no income tax on the rise of value of the shares he is passing to the trust. Now, no one ever will.

Why he pay income tax on capitol gains? The money was made on assets that appeciated in value. Is he avoiding the capitol gains tax somehow?
 
Why he pay income tax on capitol gains? The money was made on assets that appeciated in value. Is he avoiding the capitol gains tax somehow?

The money he made was on Berkshire stock. He never sold the stock, thus did not trigger the capital gains tax. Plus he gets to deduct the full $3 billion as a charitiable contribution even though he never recognized that $3 billion as income.

Clever tax trick of the rich. Again nothing illegal, but if a rich Republican did it partisans like Adam would be howling.
 
The money he made was on Berkshire stock. He never sold the stock, thus did not trigger the capital gains tax. Plus he gets to deduct the full $3 billion as a charitiable contribution even though he never recognized that $3 billion as income.

Clever tax trick of the rich. Again nothing illegal, but if a rich Republican did it partisans like Adam would be howling.

I like the fact he screwed over the IRS. I dont like the fact he wants ME to pay more. Two faced weasel he is.
 
Again, he did not pass this to charities, but to trusts run by his kids who use the trusts to do things. The kids can pay themselves millions out of that trust legally.

So your theory is that Buffett gave $3 BILLION to these charitable trusts in order to avoid tax on several MILLION dollar "gifts" to his children? How ****ing stupid do you think Warren Buffett is? Hint: not that stupid.
 
I find that interesting because I heard him interviewed several years ago, and he indicated his children would not be receiving any more of his wealth. Flip. Flop. :rofl

Perhaps he's doing that in anticipation of the inheritance tax being re-instated for, at least, people in his stratosphere.

Everybody lies...
It's not a true flip-flop because once he gave the money to the "charitable trust" it was "no longer his" and the poor children just happen to be his rich children but it's okay because charity starts at home and everyone knows that like Mother Theresa said, give till it hurts and since those "children" will have long, productive lives they need every penny they can get.

Okay I was being facitious there obviously but that defense was labor intensive. It must suck having to support a lying, hypocritical, economic cheater like that old fart.
 
I like the fact he screwed over the IRS. I dont like the fact he wants ME to pay more. Two faced weasel he is.
Buffet isn't an economic genius, he's actually a cheat, nothing necessarily illegal but he does everything he can to impose more taxes on others while avoiding them himself. I hope he ****s up and gets nailed because frankly I hate the guy, and worse, I hate when he's held up as some kind of financial mind when he simply games the system.
 
Buffet isn't an economic genius, he's actually a cheat, nothing necessarily illegal but he does everything he can to impose more taxes on others while avoiding them himself. I hope he ****s up and gets nailed because frankly I hate the guy, and worse, I hate when he's held up as some kind of financial mind when he simply games the system.

Buffett is undeniably a genius when it comes to investing. Envy and petty jealousy notwithstanding.
 
Alright can anyone not find the parallels between Buffet and Romney?
Buffet is being called scum for "legally tax dodging" which Romney also has done
The difference between the two is Buffet is the one who has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth...
 
Alright can anyone not find the parallels between Buffet and Romney?
Buffet is being called scum for "legally tax dodging" which Romney also has done
The difference between the two is Buffet is the one who has pledged to give away 99% of his wealth...

The difference is that Buffett gave his money to charity while Romney gave his money to his children.
 
Buffett gives $3 billion to his kids' foundations - Aug. 30, 2012

Found this interesting. Warren Buffett of the Buffett rule just passed along $3 billion to his kids through trusts he set up. Now this person who wants folks like himself to pay at least 30% of their income in taxes never paid a penny of taxes on this money. Now that the money is in trust, his kids will be able to live off the money while running their charities and avoided the inheritance tax.

I find it interesting that someone who have gotten filthy rich by avoiding taxes for decades, both personally and at his company wants others to pay more.

Just seems like another amoral person eager to spend other people's money.

nope. not going to let you wipe the egg off your face
you jumped to a wrong conclusion ... wrongly believing that this wealth was being passed to his kids
it is being donated to the foundations they head. check them out:
Buffett's son Peter, along with his wife, Jennifer, runs the NoVo Foundation, which is dedicated to fighting inequality and gender inequities. Another son, Howard, runs the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, which works in the developing world to improve agriculture and clean water delivery. Buffett's daughter, Susan, runs the Sherwood Foundation, which supports non-profits in his hometown of Omaha and funds early childhood education initiatives nationally
no different than had he donated funds to united way or red cross or any number of charitable organizations
Warren Buffett is doing as he promised. he's giving his wealth away so that good work can be done with it. in his interview with Koppel years back, he said he wanted his money to be used to do those things government cannot do. this appears to be consistent with that intent
but leave it to the reich wingers to portray that massive gift to charity as something bad
 
Say what you may about Buffet's politics, the man is obviously a guru in his respective field and a humanitarian of the highest order. Tons of respect for the man.
 
Back
Top Bottom