Onshore 2 Offshore

* Buffett Complains His Taxes Are Too Low







President George W. Bush can expect small thanks from billionaire investor Warren Buffett for cutting his taxes, after the Berkshire Hathaway chairman once again publicly criticized Bush's tax policies for favoring the wealthy over low- and middle-income workers.

In an interview with CNBC, Buffett, thought to be worth about $52 billion, revealed that he had conducted an informal survey of his office staff, and found that his income tax rate was almost half that of his employees.

According to Buffett, his office staff on average paid a combined income and payroll tax rate of 32.9%, while, without any help from tax advisors, his own tax rate is about 17%.

"The taxation system has tilted towards the rich and away from the middle class in the last 10 years. It's dramatic. I don't think it's appreciated. I think it should be addressed," he remarked.

"There wasn't anyone in the office, from the receptionist up, who paid as low a tax rate and I have no tax planning; I don't have an accountant or use tax shelters. I just follow what the US Congress tells me to do," he reportedly observed.

Buffett made similar remarks to a fund-raising dinner for the Hilary Clinton presidential campaign, where he attempted to prick the consciences of the 600 Wall Street investors in attendance.

"(We) pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter," he observed. "If you’re in the luckiest 1 per cent of humanity, you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 per cent.”