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Originally Posted by Miltamec Soundsquinaez
Good point. Earlier in the thread JJJ pointed out that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are the 2 richest men in America, and give a lot to charities and such.
I think it's worth pointing out that these men are both staunch Democrats, and thus, less likely to be big free marketers. I'm not sure with Gates, but I'm pretty sure Buffett is on record as referring to the current tax code as 'insane', and he feels it is his civic duty to pay a lot more, especially since he gets most of his from capital gains, and they're only taxed at like, 15%.
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You're right that Buffett does feel it's his duty to give back, but he is in favor of a flat tax, he was upset (really he was) that he was only taxed 18% (because of capital gains which as you correctly noted are taxed at a considerably lower rate) of his income. Buffett believes in philanthropy and does have a disdain for the widening gap between the elite rich and the middle class. But his solution is an equitable tax system and accountability from the wealthy to the soceity that allowed them to attain such wealth.