The Buffett bluff

For once I agree with Barack Obama and Warren Buffett.

They have both been complaining that Buffett pays less in taxes than his secretary.

It is an outrage.

But not for the reason that either Obama or Buffett suggests.

First of all, neither Obama nor Buffett has revealed, understandably, how much Buffett's secretary makes.

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Buffett, of course, is a billionaire – one of the wealthiest men in the world.

Somehow I doubt whether his secretary makes $35,000 a year. He or she might make $200,000 a year, making her, by Obama's definition, one of the very wealthiest Americans – someone who should be taxed at the highest rate.

If I'm right, Obama and Buffett want the secretary to be taxed more, not less.

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Now let's deal with Buffett.

Why isn't he paying more?

Because he doesn't have a job. He doesn't have a salary. He is taxed completely differently than his secretary is. He pays capital gains taxes, while his secretary pays the already outrageous income taxes Obama would like to increase.

It would seem Obama and Buffett should be arguing for lowering the income tax when, in fact, they are arguing to raise it. But no one calls them on this.

There are only two other options:

1. As I have proposed in an earlier column, Buffett could solve this obvious inequity himself without legislation, without any government involvement, without opening his mouth publicly. If he thinks his taxes aren't high enough, he should voluntarily pay more – as much as he feels is fair. After all, he supports Obama's policies. he's been talked about as a possibly treasury secretary candidate in the Obama administration. He has more money than he knows what to do with. So why doesn't he just make things right?
2. The second option is for Obama to raise the capital gains tax people like Buffett pay. But not even Obama is ready to suggest that. Even the man who seems determined to wreck the economy with his policies knows he could never sell a whacked-out idea like that because it represents economic suicide for the nation. In fact, if you want to see the economy take off, everyone knows all you have to do is lower the capital gains tax or even eliminate it. It wouldn't just represent economic suicide for the nation, it would represent political suicide for Obama to even suggest it while we are mired in a deep recession.

But, then again, it's all really irrelevant anyway.

I think the political establishment in Washington – both Democrat and Republican – have figured out they don't need to tinker with taxes to maintain and even increase their reckless spending and never-ending grabs for power well beyond constitutional limits.

They have figured out they can borrow all the money they want without any accountability. The debate over taxes is really moot. Both sides refuse to cut spending – even a little. Both sides refuse to freeze spending. Both sides refuse to freeze borrowing. Government just keeps growing – even when the private economy is hemorrhaging.

Yet, here we are in the midst of an active Republican presidential primary election campaign with more candidates than anyone can count and no one is raising this self-evident truth.

Washington is broken. We no longer have representative government. We no longer have limited government. We no longer have self-government. We are living in a country so far removed from its founding principles that it would be unrecognizable to the men who founded it.

Nevertheless, I still wish someone other than me would call Obama's bluff – and Buffett's.