And now a word from Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor, wrote an Op-Ed piece for the New York Times this week. It's entitled "Stop Coddling the Super-Rich." You can find it here. And here’s an excerpt:

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office.

And I'll add another item from the New York Times that appeared after the debt limit bill passed:

Each year, the government provides $1 trillion in tax breaks ...Right now, wealthier taxpayers get the greatest benefit. The process needs to be reformed so that most of the help flows to those who most need it: low- and middle-income taxpayers.

As social workers, many of those we serve are low-and middle-income taxpayers. They don't get the tax breaks that Warren Buffett and other wealthy folks enjoy. Those we serve may not have a job, they may be on welfare or unemployment, or they may be struggling to make a dollar stretch as far as possible.

Yet, as social workers, we persevere and do our best to help those we serve. That's a tall order, but we try very hard. And we also get involved in advocacy and political action, two things that can have an enormous influence on the positions our politicians take here in NJ and nationwide.

I'd like to hear from you about Buffett's comments on taxes and on what we can do as social workers to make a difference - to balance the equation.