I should pay more tax, says US billionaire

I should pay more tax, says US billionaire Warren Buffett | Special reports | Guardian Unlimited

Warren Buffet makes too much money and wants the US Government to take more in tax from him and other extreme income makers. He is pissed that he pays lower tax rates than all of his employees. Republicans fear that hiking tax rates for the very very wealthy will cause a recession.

Ok, when Bush decided that everyone else was wrong and the super rich deserved to keep most of their "hard earned" capital and profit, in New Zealand a left wing Labour government decided to increase the top band of taxes and has run burgeoning surpluses. This government taxes more than it needs to due to the weight of past mistakes that put the country into extreme debt to its trading partners and competitors. Anyone with a credit card knows going into debt to purchase businesses that then do not recover your economy is financial suicide.

Between the USA indebtedness on an extremely costly and failing military strategy to control oil and NZ that buckled down to be successful despite the high tax rate environment - the comparison is stark. Year after year the NZ electorate clamours for a tax cut - but the economics are simple. While the country can not meet debt obligations, tax cuts have been seen as unlikely. But the economy continues to defy the USA logic and grow despite a difficult tax regime.

The disturbing trend is how the American people are being economically fooled by the Bush double handed manouvere. By mortgaging the wealth of American industry against the protection of an economically declining resource and rewarding and building a huge military need - Bush has squandered the enormous strength of the US economy, but for what?

The Iraq war has made terrorism in the "homeland" (a bigotted term, if there ever was one) much more likely than ever. It has made a popular hero of Osama bin Laden as the remaining figurehead in the fight against liberal values. Let's face it. Compared to Osama, Bush is a liberal!