Tim Pawlenty (R), Governor of Minnesota, official portrait
Tim Pawlenty (R), former two-term Minnesota governor who balanced the state’s budget without raising taxes, and GOP presidential hopeful, is casting stones at the White House.
At the University of Chicago recently, he said, “President Obama is a champion practitioner of class warfare.” While he is the first to level such a charge against President Obama, several critics accused his predecessor – President George W. Bush – of the same thing. However, the one, and perhaps most important, person to validate that assertion against Bush II was none other than Berkshire Hathaway Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett. In his 2003 report to share holders, Buffett wrote,
“Corporate income taxes in fiscal 2003 accounted for 7.4% of all federal tax receipts, down from a post-war peak of 32% in 1952. With one exception (1983), last year’s percentage is the lowest recorded since data was first published in 1934. Even so, tax breaks for corporations (and their investors, particularly large ones) were a major part of the Administration’s 2002 and 2003 initiatives. If class warfare is being waged in America, my class is clearly winning. (emphasis added) Today, many large corporations – run by CEOs whose fiddle-playing talents make your Chairman look like he is all thumbs – pay nothing close to the stated federal tax rate of 35%.”
Berkshire Hathaway Chairman & CEO Warren Buffett speaking to students at Kansas University School of Business
While it seems Pawlenty is disgruntled with national economic performance, he interestingly suggests that Read the rest of this entry »
