Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Murdoch Press Attacks One Of Its Own

link here to article

Warren Buffet wrote an op-ed in the NYT arguing for higher taxes on people like himself who are super rich but have a lower effective tax rate than ordinary citizens.
It didn't take long for the Murdoch empire to respond. The New York Post reported that Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation owes the IRS back taxes and accused him of being a hypocrite. This is standard procedure for the conservative media. If they don't like the message they attempt to discredit the messenger. In this case, they are going after one of their own who they view as a traitor to their class.

This article describes the tax issue quite differently. Berkshire Hathaway is in a dispute with the IRS over several of its reported tax returns. The dispute has not been settled and it is quite common for the IRS and corporations to take different positions on the very complicated returns that they file. Moreover, Warren Buffet's personal positions on tax policy are not necessarily that of the corporation that he runs.

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