Warren Buffett Says You Wouldn’t Owe A ‘Dime’ In Federal Taxes If 800 Companies Paid The IRS Like Berkshire — And That Includes Social Security Too

While some billionaires threaten to relocate over the threat of higher taxes, the Oracle of Omaha is proudly writing checks to the IRS — big ones.

Warren Buffett has never been one to hide behind tax shelters or complain about what he owes Uncle Sam. At Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in 2024, the then-CEO — and who remains chairman — made a striking statement about corporate taxation. It wasn’t a political speech or a carefully rehearsed soundbite. It was vintage Buffett: straightforward, grounded, and backed by numbers that are hard to argue with.

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Berkshire Hathaway, he told the assembled shareholders, sent a check for over $5 billion to the U.S. federal government the previous year. And if just 800 other companies had done the same? “No other person in the United States would have had to pay a dime of federal taxes,” he said. “Whether income taxes, no Social Security taxes, no estate taxes — up and down the line.”

It was the kind of line that makes an arena full of shareholders applaud — not because it was rehearsed, but because it was true.

Buffett has long been transparent about how he views the relationship between profitable companies and the government. At the meeting, he framed it in characteristically simple terms. “The federal government owns a part of the earnings of the business we make,” he said. “They don’t own the assets, but they own a percentage of the earnings. And they can change that percentage any year.”

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The current corporate tax rate sits at 21%, established under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But Buffett made clear he doesn’t expect that number to stay put. With the national deficit ballooning and political appetite for spending cuts remaining limited, he suggested that higher rates are “quite likely.” The government, he said, “may decide that someday they don’t want the fiscal deficit to be this large” and “may decide they’ll take a larger percentage of what we earn.”

His response to that possibility was remarkably unbothered: “We’ll pay it.”

There was no talk of restructuring, relocating, or lobbying for loopholes. Just a plainspoken acceptance that taxation is part of the deal — and one he considers fair.

Rather than treating that as a critique of others, Buffett turned it inward. “I would hope things develop well enough with Berkshire that we say we’re in the 800 club,” he said, “and maybe even move up a few notches.”

It was a goal that had nothing to do with shareholder returns or stock price — and everything to do with the way Buffett has always measured success. For a man who still lives in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958 and has pledged the vast majority of his fortune to philanthropy, paying a large tax bill isn’t a problem to be solved. It’s a sign that things are going well.

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Buffett’s stance on taxes is hardly new, but it stands in increasingly sharp contrast to the broader conversation happening among the ultra-wealthy.

As debates around billionaire taxes, unrealized capital gains proposals, and minimum effective rates have intensified in recent years, a notable faction of the rich has responded with threats to relocate. Hedge fund executives have floated moves to lower-tax states or countries entirely. Some in the tech and crypto space have openly explored jurisdictions like Dubai, Singapore, and beyond — sending a clear signal that higher taxes could trigger an exodus.

Buffett’s message runs in the opposite direction entirely. He has long credited the United States with creating the conditions that made Berkshire Hathaway’s success possible, and he sees paying taxes as a form of giving back to the system that enabled it. “I think it’s appropriate,” he said at the meeting, “that a country that has been as generous to our owners” should receive something in return.

While Buffett’s comment highlights how different the tax conversation looks at the corporate level, most people don’t get to decide what tax policy or billionaire behavior looks like going forward. Taxes still come due, rules still change, and planning ahead matters more than predicting what lawmakers or CEOs might do next. That’s where working with a financial advisor can help, turning uncertainty into a plan so surprises at tax time feel a lot less surprising.

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This article Warren Buffett Says You Wouldn't Owe A 'Dime' In Federal Taxes If 800 Companies Paid The IRS Like Berkshire — And That Includes Social Security Too originally appeared on Benzinga.com

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