Warren Buffett and Taxes

Every year, in the month of April, Forbes magazine comes with the list of the billionaires of the planet ranked by wealth in UDS. Warren Buffett came number one in 2008, but for 2009 his friend Bill Gates came back to claim his number one spot of the past 13 years before 2008. It has always amazed me that even for the amount of wealth those two persons own, they are the most avid fighter for an equal distribution of wealth in society, starting with the fairness of the tax system.

Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are known for the more liberal opinions, and it surprised me for a while, since I would expect the richest guys on the planet to be conservatives and protective of their money. I fell on an interview of Buffett explaining his stance on taxes and comparing the lack of fairness between his own tax rate and, for example, the tax rate paid by his secretary.

I also saw a video from the senate finance committee hearing on November 14th 2007 when Warren Buffet showed up to share some of his impressions of about the current tax system and his proposition on what could be change to make taxation more equal.

From these videos, it is good thing to have such a successful and socially responsible investor as Warren Buffett representing value investing. He certainly gives capitalism a good name.