Hypocrite Hijinks... and Dead People Voting

by Libby Sternberg

Poor fellow...still searching
for that US Treasury address...

Warren Buffett, the Oracle Hypocrite of Omaha, is at it again. The Berkshire-Hathaway tax evader (see the company's annual report for info on how much the IRS says they owe, or go to this blog post for more), who wants other people to pay more taxes because he's so torn up about his own low tax rate, can't seem to find the U.S. Treasury address to which he could voluntarily send his millions. (Hint: we've posted it here.)

So he's come up with a new plan--sort of a "matching grant" program. For every dollar a Republican congressman contributes to lower the debt, he'll contribute a buck. And he'll put in even more for every one that Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell throws in the kitty.

Warren, Warren, Warren...you don't need to set up ridiculous plans like this one. As pointed out above, you can send your money -- as much as you like, unfettered by silly gamesmanship -- to the U.S. Treasury.

Oh, all right. Maybe you're too busy to go to that link above. Here's the address for your charitable giving to the U.S. Treasury:

Gifts to the United States
U.S. Department of the Treasury
Credit Accounting Branch
3700 East-West Highway, Room 622D
Hyattsville, MD 20782

Here's a link to how you do the deed: http://www.fms.treas.gov/faq/moretopics_gifts.html

But Republicans aren't keen on raising taxes to lower the debt and deficit. They understand that a) more taxes will just mean more spending; and b) government-funded programs don't always achieve the best results anyway.

Hmm...where have I heard that before? Oh, yes, from Mr. Buffett himself, explaining his huge donations to his family's own foundations:

"I think that on balance the Gates Foundation, my daughter's foundation, my two sons' foundations will do a better job with lower administrative costs and better selection of beneficiaries than the government."

So, keep on giving, Warr (you don't mind if I call you that, do you?)--to both charitable foundations and the government. Just stop asking others who haven't made it to your gajillionaire status yet to pay more, too.

***

On to Voter I.D. laws....liberal groups, mostly funded by George Soros, have been having a field day lately getting their mailing list members in a stew over so-called voter-suppressing Voter I.D. laws now in place or being considered in numerous states, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled such laws as legal (a 6-3 decision with liberal justice John Paul Stevens helping explain why Voter I.D. is not voter suppression).

This is a tactic of both left and right -- to get believers all het up -- to raise funds and grow the mailing list, on an issue that could resonate with the base when presented a certain way but which probably won't be going anywhere any time soon.

In other words, there's a good chance that more and more people will continue to support Voter I.D. laws (polls show majorities already do) and, if properly crafted, the laws will continue to be upheld in the courts. But in the meantime, groups like Moveon.org, TruthOut, Signon.org (all offshoots of the same liberal organization tree) will rake in dough, gin up outrage and snag new subscribers.

Is voter fraud a big issue, though? These liberal groups claim it's not. That would come as a surprise to some Troy, NY officials who decided to plead guilty last year to filling out fraudulent absentee ballot forms, or to 11 conspirators in Alabama in 2008 for voter fraud or to Indiana's Democratic Chairman who resigned amidst charges of voter fraud during the Democratic primary in 2008. I could go on...

One of the easiest ways to commit voter fraud is to request the ballot of a dead person. There are a lot of dead people still on voter lists because it often takes a while for these names to be stricken from public records. Local town clerks usually can't just take it upon themselves to remove these names after seeing an obituary or even attending a funeral. There has to be an official communication affirming the death.

Conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe is now out with a video showing deceased persons' ballots being handed out quite cheerfully to fake voters in the New Hampshire primary (NH doesn't require Voter I.D.).

I know liberals and even moderates don't give much credence to O'Keefe, but he's right--you can easily obtain ballots for deceased persons in most jurisdictions.

If you want to make every vote count, you have to ensure that fraudulent votes are not counted. Viva Voter I.D.!

***
Libby Sternberg is a novelist.

The Oracle Hypocrite of Omaha (With Poll Question!)

by Libby Sternberg

Poor Warren Buffett. He's become a victim of Roving Bands of Tax-Loophole-Enforcing Accountants (they wear gigantic green eyeshades instead of ski masks when overtaking their victims, I'm told, and their weapon of choice is the electronic calculator, which packs a mean jolt).

Due to these nefarious bean counters, he pays taxes at a lower percentage than his secretary, even though he is a Gajillionaire, and she is is a working girl. No, not a working girl. A woman who works.

Unable to defeat these evil tax-dodging accountants on his own, he's let out a heartrending cry to the government, asking it to please, oh, please, oh, please, raise taxes on just him, as well as lots of people who make less than him but not as much as his secretary.

His story gets even sadder. Berkshire Hathaway, the company of which he is chairman and CEO, appears to have been victimized by these Roving Bands of Accountants, as well. It has a few back taxes on the books (nothing consequential, mind you, just a mere billion) that it disputes. Don't take my word for it. You can look at the Berkshire Hathaway annual report and find this gem around page 56:

At December 31, 2010 and 2009, net unrecognized tax benefits were $1,005 million and $926 million, respectively. Included in the balance at December 31, 2010, are $774 million of tax positions that, if recognized, would impact the effective tax rate. The remaining balance in net unrecognized tax benefits principally relates to tax positions for which the ultimate deductibility is highly certain but for which there is uncertainty about the timing of such deductibility. Because of the impact ofdeferred tax accounting, other than interest and penalties, the disallowance of the shorter deductibility period would not affectthe annual effective tax rate but would accelerate the payment of cash to the taxing authority to an earlier period. As of December 31, 2010, we do not expect any material changes to the estimated amount of unrecognized tax benefits in the next twelve months.

Translation: As of Dec. 31, 2010, Berkshire Hathaway was carrying just over $1 billion in "unrecognized tax benefits." That means they believe the money is a tax benefit they should receive, but the IRS has not yet agreed with them and has not determined a schedule for when payments would be due, so the amount must be carried on their books as a liability. Berkshire Hathaway appears to be pressing hard to avoid having the corporation pay $1 billion in taxes (surely as the result of those wicked bands of accountants holding their calculators to the heads of the executives).

Yes, I know that the corporation is looking out for shareholders--little people, perhaps akin to Mr. Buffett's secretary, who have money invested with Berkshire Hathaway through mutual funds and pensions, etc. But Mr. Buffett's patriotic passion for paying taxes surely would seep into the corporate ethos of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, if it, too, had not been infiltrated by those Roving Bands of Accountants that attacked his own personal wealth, forcing him to pay lower taxes.

Oh, the humanity!

But wait, Warren--help is on the way!

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) has introduced "The Buffett Rule Act of 2011" (S.1676) that would force the IRS to include on tax forms a line asking folks if they'd like to donate to the federal government. Read more about Sen. Thune's nifty plan here.

More good news--poor little rich guy Mr. Buffett need not wait for this legislation to be passed. He can pay more right now if he'd like. We've provided a handy how-to on this blog here. (It has shocked us to learn that he might not read our blog.)

Now that so many efforts have been made on Mr. Buffett's behalf to free him from those tax-hostage-taking accountants, we're sure that he will no longer plea for others to pay more taxes until he's set his own house to rights, so to speak, by paying the amounts he wants to pay (if not for those malevolent accountants) and maybe even paying his secretary's taxes, too, since he's so concerned about her. He wouldn't want to look like a hypocrite, now, would he?

Tell us what you think by answering our poll question in the upper right corner of this blog!

Get Serious, Warren

By Leslie S. Lebl

Now that the ideas from this blog are making cable news, even if Pat Buchanan doesn't realize we beat him to it (Mr. Buchanan suggested, as we did, that if wealthy Warren Buffett wants to pay more taxes, as he indicated in a New York Times article recently, he should just send in the check -- see video embedded below) I feel very strongly that we must help those poor millionaires and billionaires who can't figure out how to pay more taxes.

How about an exclusive club of the very rich who agree to contribute a set percentage of their wealth voluntarily to the Treasury Department? After all, in the same way that some churches encourage all their members to tithe, membership in this club could signal the long-term commitment of its members to rectifying the injustice of their low tax rates. They could lead the way for the political system to catch up by closing tax loopholes until the country's richest citizens actually pay the rates that are supposed to apply to them.

For a modest salary, I hereby volunteer to serve as the Club Secretary.

Just write the check, Warren. We're waiting...but not holding our breath.