Warren Buffett's revelation that he pays less in taxes than his secretary piqued everyone's curiosity as to exactly how big his last Internal Revenue Service bill was.
The Wall Street Journal went beyond wondering and suggested that Buffett make his tax returns public.
"The opportunity to educate the public would be even greater if Mr. Buffett would let everyone else in on his secrets of tax avoidance by releasing his tax returns," wrote the WSJ editorial board.
OK, says Buffett, but on one condition.
The Berkshire Hathaway executive will share his tax returns if the Rupert Murdoch, the head honcho of News Corporation which owns the WSJ, does the same.
"I think it might be a terrific idea if they would just ask their boss, Rupert Murdoch, and he and I will meet at Fortune, and we'll both give you our tax returns and you can publish them," Buffett said during an interview at the Most Powerful Women Summit in Laguna Niguel, Calif.
Great idea, Warren. And great fun if Rupert would go along.
But he won't.
So we're all left to keep wondering about the tax details of two of the world's richest men.
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Tiffany
This man is just genius in his method in everything. Funny how the tried to put things on him he was okay with it but then he turns the table. So Murdoch what are you going to do?
Peter
Kay,
Great post, but Murdoch has no obligation to make his tax returns public.
First of all, he didn’t write the WSJ article demanding that Buffett disclose his tax returns. Second, and more important, Murdoch, unlike Buffett, has not made a claim about his tax rates, which claim the President of the United States wants to codify into law.
Buffett should make his returns public and ask his secretary to do the same. Murdoch shouldn’t even be part of the conversation.
Mark
It’s a not-so-clever way of saying “no” without having to actually say no, because he knows Murdoch will never do this.
Murdoch’s tax returns are 100% irrelevant here. Murdoch’s claims of his tax rate are not responsible for what might be a change to federal tax law.
If you make a claim, the onus is on you to substantiate it, not to bring in some random third party who has nothing to do with your claim and demand they release personal information on themselves before you’re willing to provide proof of claim that might become responsible for a change to the law.