Intel Corp (INTC)

[wbmw]

Neither Facebook nor AAPL investors will be complaining about taxes, of course. Those gains will be taxed either at ordinary income rates or long-term cap gains rate depending on how long they are held.

Anyone going to complain that these guys aren't paying their "fair share"? Of course not. Instead, we'll go after guys investing in INTC.

Ordinary income has the highest tax rates, so even you seem to agree that Facebook and Apple will pay their fair share.

As for "going after" INTC investors, this is a huge over-reaction. Anyone receiving dividends - even the millionaires in the top tax bracket - end up at the top tax bracket of 35%. Meaning that 65% of the dividend is still take-home money, and whatever that value ends up being, it's more than the ZERO that they would get from Facebook or Apple. Meaning of course that INTC's dividend still holds tremendous value, even in a world where it's taxed as regular income.

I don't get the visceral reaction that people get from a 35% income tax rate - as if we're making paupers out of highly skilled and paid workers. If you've done the hard work to get to the point where you're making millions of dollars, the government is still leaving you with millions of dollars. Even this dividend thing is, what - going from 15% to 35% on the few cents per share that you get on the portion of your investment portfolio that pays dividends. It's a hair on the back of a gnat for most people, and a drop in the bucket for others.

Do you even realize that the tax rate during the 90s was nearly 40%? We're still at historic lows for the top tax bracket.

Cause you know, Buffett said he wished he paid more in taxes.

Which of course is one of the most DISINGENUOUS statements I've heard in a long time.

His statement had everything to do with fairness, and he knows he pays a lower rate than his staff, who makes far less money. If that's the way the tax system is structured, then the real "class warfare" is from the billionaires taking advantage of the people who are too dumb enough to vote for their own best interests. That's the irony, and Buffet knows it. Doesn't get more genuine than that.