Billionaire Warren Buffett
when interviewed by NBC's Tom Brokaw said that he has felt for years the the U.S. tax system placed too high a burden on its middle class. Buffet said,"The taxation system has tilted toward the rich and away from the middle class in the last ten years it's just dramatic and I don't think it's appreciated. And I think it should be addressed"In a voluntary survey of his employees he discovered that their average tax rate was around 32%. Buffett's secretary pays 30% of her 60,000 dollar income while Buffett himself, pays only 17.7% of his 46 billion dollar income.
"There wasn't anybody in the office, from the receptionists on, that paid as low a tax rate [as myself], I have no tax planning, I don't have an accountant, I don't have tax shelters. I just follow what the U.S. Congress tells me to do." noted Buffet.
When asked what he thought could be done to correct this imbalance in taxation Buffet said, that a progressive consumption tax - a type of sales tax that places a higher rate on luxuries and exempts most basic necessities - would be better than the current system.
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