The Buffett Tax

El 14 de agosto pasado y como producto de las tensiones generadas en Washington por las discusiones sobre cómo financiar al país, Warren Buffett escribió en su columna del New York Times el texto titulado Stop Coddling the Super- Rich. El título lo dice todo. Se trata de un llamado al Congreso para que grave de mejor manera a los más ricos que actualmente gracias a exenciones fiscales (tax breaks)  enfrentan tasas impositivas menores que la gente común y corriente. Como es tradición en Azul Finanzas vamos a ver un poco del texto original:

“ Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species.

If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice…”

Texto completo en www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

Como resultado de lo anterior y calificado por mucho como una medida populista, Barack Obama dentro de su plan de reducción de déficit presentado al Congreso el lunes 19 de septiembre introduce la llamada Regla Buffett:

“This plan is a balanced one that asks everyone to do their part. It includes nearly $580 billion in cuts and reforms to mandatory programs of which $320 billion is savings from Federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. These changes are necessary to maintain the promise of Medicare as we know it.

The plan also realizes more than $1 trillion in savings over the next 10 years from our drawdowns in Afghanistan and Iraq. And the plan calls for the Congress to undertake comprehensive tax reform that lowers tax rates, closes loopholes, boosts job creation here at home, cuts the deficit by $1.5 trillion, and observes the Buffett Rule -- that people making more than $1 million a year should not pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay.”

 Texto completo en  http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/09/full-text-president-obamas-buffett-tax-address.php

Aunque se critica a Obama de solo estar pensando es las futuras elecciones y de mostrar un comportamiento “tax and spend” o “pon impuestos y gasta”, lo que hay que ver es cómo reaccionan los mercados  si este Buffett Tax llega a aplicarse. La teoría dice que los capitales escaparían buscando mayores beneficios fiscales pero como dice el mismo Buffett refiriéndose a los inversionistas  “potential taxes have never scared them off”