Warren Buffett, the renowned billionaire investor and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (BRK.A), has long been a vocal advocate for tax equity, emphasizing that the wealthy and large corporations should pay their fair share.
In recent statements, Buffett has made clear that his company’s outsized tax payments—at $26.8 billion in 2024, it was the largest tax payment in U.S. history—are a point of pride for him, revealing further his philosophy about corporate responsibility and growth.
Key Takeaways
- Warren Buffett believes that fair taxation from large corporations and wealthy individuals would reduce the tax burden faced by ordinary Americans.
- He argues balancing the tax system would allow the U.S. to manage the increasing fiscal deficit and provide enough funding for public services and infrastructure.
Buffet’s Statements on Corporate Taxes
At Berkshire Hathaway’s 2024 annual meeting, Buffett argued that federal taxes could be effectively zero for every American if some 800 companies had paid their fair share of taxes while also noting that his company paid over $5 billion at a 21% federal rate for 2023. That figure would vastly increase for the 2024 tax year—the $26.8 billion U.S. federal tax bill, he said, was the equivalent of 5% of all corporate taxes owed that year. Added together, Buffett said, Berkshire Hathaway’s total cash payments to the IRS over the years have been more than $101 billion.
While his statement is largely rhetorical—he’d need to specify what he means by “fair” to test the ability of 800 companies to pay all U.S. income taxes—he has long emphasized the potential contributions missing from large corporations.
| Breakdown of 2023 Federal Tax Revenue | ||
|---|---|---|
| Revenue Source | Amount ($ Trillions) | Percentage of Total |
| Individual Income Taxes | $2.18 | 48.7% |
| Payroll Taxes | $1.63 | 36.6% |
| Corporate Income Taxes | $0.421 | 9.4% |
| Other (Customs, Excise, etc.) | $0.169 | 3.8% |
| Total | $4.47 trillion | 100% |
Billionaires and the “Buffett Rule”
In addition to criticizing corporate tax, Buffett has come out against ultrawealthy individuals. “The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population,” Buffett remarked in a 2019 CNBC interview. He contends that the current tax system—by granting preferential rates and many loopholes—allows billionaires like himself to pay only a fraction of what they reasonably should, ultimately shifting an unfair burden onto ordinary Americans.
Buffett has said his own low effective tax rate (around 0.1% between 2014 and 2018) isn’t an endorsement of the current system—it’s exactly the problem he highlights. In his view, the current tax code disproportionately favors the ultrawealthy and allows them to pay far less, percentage-wise, than ordinary workers.
His advocacy for increasing the earned-income tax credit (EITC) and addressing dynastic wealth stems from a broader desire to level the playing field. If the tax code were reformed to eliminate loopholes and preferential rates, even someone like Buffett would pay a higher, fairer rate.
Buffet’s position gained attention when he supported tax legislation that emerged in 2011 during President Obama’s administration. The regulation would have imposed a minimum 30% tax for people who made more than $1 million each year, and became known as the “Buffett Rule” because Warren Buffet revealed that he paid taxes at a rate of only 17.4% while his secretary paid 35.8% due to differential tax rates on capital gains versus ordinary income.
Critics, however, argued that the Buffett Rule was effectively a capital gains tax rate hike that would hurt business growth. Ultimately, the bill didn’t receive enough votes in Congress to pass.
Buffett has famously remarked that he wants his kids to have enough money to pursue their goals but not so much they don’t need to work.
The Bottom Line
Through his persistent arguments and public statements, Warren Buffet has argued that the current tax system in the U.S. disproportionately benefits wealthy individuals and corporations and supports changes that would raise their tax obligations to bring about a fairer system, even if that means he would also have to pay a higher tax bill.
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