Economics
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1/25/2012 @ 4:02PM |107,305 views
Warren Buffett's Secretary Likely Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000/Year
Warren Buffet’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a
stage prop for President Obama’s State of the Union speech. She was the
President’s chief display of the alleged unfairness of our tax system – a
little person paying a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss.
Bosanek’s prominent role in Obama’s “fairness” campaign
piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much
does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? So far, no one has volunteered
this information.
We can get an approximate answer by consulting IRS data on tax rates
by adjusted gross income, which would approximate her salary, assuming
she does not have significant dividend, interest or capital-gains income
(like her boss). I assume Buffet keeps her too busy for her to hold a
second job. I also do not know if she is married and filing jointly. If
so, it is deceptive for Obama to use her as an example. The higher rate
may be due to her husband’s income. So I assume the tax rate Obama
refers to is from her own earnings.
Insofar as Buffet (like Mitt Romney) earns income primarily from
capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent (and according to Obama
need to be raised for reasons of fairness), we need to determine how
much income a taxpayer like Bosanek must earn in order to pay an average
tax rate above fifteen percent. This is easy to do.
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