Buffett suggests lowering taxes for the middle class

“I have no tax shelters, I have no tax accountant, my tax shelter really was the Bush administration,” he said today. “They took care of me. They thought here’s this endangered species, kind of like the bald eagle out in Omaha, and if we don’t take care of this guy they’ll all quit working and we won’t have any arbitrageurs or hedge fund operators. So we’ve gotta give this guy a special kind of break.”

The Obama administration and congressional Democratic leaders are pushing for the extension of the middle-class tax cuts while allowing the expiration of those aimed at the upper-income tax brackets, individuals who make more than $200,000 a year and households that make more than $250,000 a year. 

The White House has argued that the deficit makes it necessary to let tax cuts expire for those in the upper tax brackets. 

“If you’re not going to get it from guys like me, why should we get it from the people who served us lunch today,” Buffett said.