> On the contrary he has called for increasing the capital gains tax precisely because he himself (and obviously others like him) pay such low effective margina

> On the contrary he has called for increasing the capital gains tax precisely because he himself (and obviously others like him) pay such low effective marginal tax rates. You're assuming that he's going to pay significant capital gains. He's not because he lives so cheap that he doesn't sell all that much. In other words, the capital gains rate is largely irrelevant to him. While he lives cheap, he does like to win and increase the value of Berkshire. The capital gains tax rate does have an effect on the folks selling companies to Berkshire.... Buffet also advocates increasing the estate tax, which is a two-fer. Berkshire makes a lot of money selling insurance to help people with the estate tax. Berkshire also picks up companies because the inheritors can't pay said tax. Meanwhile, he's arranged things so the bulk of his estate will never be taxed.