VN Boards Archive

[VN Boards Archive]

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Topic: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year

combat_mage_sc Title: Hi. My name is Combat and i'm an alcoholic. Posts: 41,508 Registered: Jul 20, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 40,845 User ID: 266,617	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	Obama Holds Up Warren Buffetâ€™s Secretary As Example of Economic Injustice... This poor woman, how does she manage to survive? Warren Buffettâ€™s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a stage prop for President Obamaâ€™s State of the Union speech. She was the presidentâ€™s chief display of the alleged unfairness of our tax system â€“ a little person paying a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss. Bosanekâ€™s prominent role in Obamaâ€™s â€œfairnessâ€ campaign piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? So far, no one has volunteered this information. We can get an approximate answer by consulting IRS data on tax rates by adjusted gross income, which would approximate her salary, assuming she does not have significant dividend, interest or capital-gains income (like her boss). I assume Buffett keeps her too busy for her to hold a second job. I also do not know if she is married and filing jointly. If so, it is deceptive for Obama to use her as an example. The higher rate may be due to her husbandâ€™s income. So I assume the tax rate Obama refers to is from her own earnings. Insofar as Buffett (like Mitt Romney) earns income primarily from capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent (and according to Obama need to be raised for reasons of fairness), we need to determine how much income a taxpayer like Bosanek must earn in order to pay an average tax rate above fifteen percent. This is easy to do. The IRS publishes detailed tax tables by income level. The latest results are for 2009. They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between $100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffettâ€™s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffett must pay Debbie Bosanke a salary above two hundred thousand. We must wait for further details to learn how much more than $200,000 she earns. The tax tables tell us about average ranges. For all we know she earns closer to a half million each year, but that is pure speculation. I have nothing against Debbie Bosanke earning a half million or even more. Buffett is a major player in the world economy. His secretary deserves good compensation. At her income, however, she is scarcely the symbol of injustice that Obama wishes her to project. I imagine that there are any number of secretaries who would want her job and her place in the Congress gallery for the Presidentâ€™s State of the Union address. http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2012/01/25/warren-buffetts-secretary-likely-makes-between-200000-and-500000year/ -----signature----- .................._@@@__ ......_____//____?___\________ - ---o--------BEER-POLICE----@) -----`--(@)======+====(@)--
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JD_HOGG Posts: 19,975 Registered: Mar 18, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,893 User ID: 1,285,011	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	I figured she was in the top income bracket. So Buffett's answer is to raise his secretary's taxes to make it more fair? Because he certainly didn't specify that the only way to address this disparity would be to raise capital gains taxes, not taxes on ordinary income. -----signature----- (none)
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Unarmed-Yarr Title: Pirate of Harrrvestgain Posts: 22,020 Registered: Feb 23, '00 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 20,021 User ID: 12,032	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	Buffet is saying anyone making over X a year should pay a minimum of 30% tax rate on all income, regardless of source. So, his secretary wouldnt really be affected, since she already pays more on wage based income. The real change would be to the investor types, like buffett and romney, who pay far less with only capital gains income. Their rates would double since they made enough to hit the "double bonus" range. This would still leave lower to middle class investors to keep their 15% tax rate on capital gains, since they dont make enough to hit the top rate on all income. -----signature----- Old Fogie (4,297 days old), East Sider, Pirate Unarmed Yarr, Dissilspilg, HOH 4 life (12-15-00) Passersby were amazed by the unusually large amounts of blood.
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JD_HOGG Posts: 19,975 Registered: Mar 18, '08 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 19,893 User ID: 1,285,011	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	Unarmed-Yarr posted: Buffet is saying anyone making over X a year should pay a minimum of 30% tax rate on all income, regardless of source. So, his secretary wouldnt really be affected, since she already pays more on wage based income. The real change would be to the investor types, like buffett and romney, who pay far less with only capital gains income. Their rates would double since they made enough to hit the "double bonus" range. This would still leave lower to middle class investors to keep their 15% tax rate on capital gains, since they dont make enough to hit the top rate on all income. That's not the argument being made. The left is screaming about raising the top rate on ordinary income. That will most certainly affect his secretary. -----signature----- (none)
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Hawkson Title: I AM AN ASSASSIN (SHH) Posts: 30,565 Registered: Oct 23, '01 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 30,208 User ID: 478,685	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	And now we have Ollie Williams reporting in with what kind of post this is, Ollie? It's a Poli-Troll! Thanks, Ollie. -----signature----- Hawkson, Esq. Nothing is true, everything is permitted.
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Arc_DT Title: Mithan said I am smart Posts: 11,647 Registered: May 28, '02 Extended Info (if available) Real Post Cnt: 11,518 User ID: 683,353	Subject: Warren Buffett's Secretary Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
	Most of you are cousin-shtooping illiterates, so I pity rather than fault you for not knowing the difference between a marginal and an effective tax rate. Forbes should, however, know the difference. They just (correctly) assume that you are idiots. With FICA included (which Buffet does NOT pay at all on capital gains and only pays on the first $106,000 of earned income), she would pay a marginal rate of 19.2% on any adjusted gross income over $8,500. (This is even with the lower FICA rate which started in 2011.) Even if you completely discount FICA, she pays a marginal rate of 25% on anything over $34,500 adjusted gross income. (These assume married filing separately, or single.) With FICA, that would be a 29.2% marginal rate. Meanwhile, Buffet is paying a marginal rate of 15% on all capital gains over $34,500 a year, and no FICA on those gains. -----signature----- "... We just need a president to sign this stuff... Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president." -Grover Norquist . MICHIGAN - Where the trees are the right height!
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