WorldOver reports on a possible reason why a billionaire like Warren Buffett has recently come out in favor of higher taxes on the super rich.  Buffett, they observed, does not upon closer scrutiny make for an ideal poster child for taxing the rich at a higher rate.  They pointed out that Buffett had given large sums away to the Gates Foundation, in part to support certain causes but that this also was deductible and thus helped avoid federal taxes.  Some economists and social thinkers believe that mega corporations and the super rich are better able to absorb the costs of taxation and regulation.  Such super wealthy entities or people can better afford the accountants and other experts needed to navigate the costs of taxation and regulation.  Those costs of regulation and taxation can be passed on through their businesses to consumers, who end up paying the taxes indirectly.  Meanwhile, smaller businesses are not as able to bear those costs in the same fashion, which may place them at a competitive disadvantage.  They reasoned that in a free society, the rich or anyone are always at liberty to give away their money.  So there is no need to use the levers of government to accomplish the transfer of wealth through taxation.

(Warren Buffett and President Barack Obama file photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)