Surprise - Most Millionaires Support "Buffett Plan"

The picture above is of Warren Buffett -- one of the richest men in America. Recently he made public his view that the rich should be paying higher taxes to help the country's economy out of the mess it;s in (and because most of the rich pay a lower percentage of their income in taxes than middle class workers pay). The idea was immediately dubbed the "Buffett Plan", and Buffett was viciously attacked by Republicans.

I had assumed that most of the rich agreed with the Republicans and were opposed to government raising their taxes, but it looks like I may have been wrong. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal by Robert Frank, a recent poll of millionaires showed that a significant majority of them agreed with Buffett (about 68%). Here is part of Frank's article:

Warren Buffett isn’t the only rich guy who wants to higher taxes on the rich.

A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more)  support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.

Buffett, as you might recall, has proposed raising taxes on million-plus earners, saying the ultra-rich pay lower rates than everyday workers.

Rich people’s opinions of Buffett remain fairly positive in the wake of his tax-me-more crusade. More than a third of millionaires and ultra-high-net-worths said they have a more positive opinion of Buffett after his tax proposal. Only 19% of millionaires and 22% of the $5 million -plus group said they had a more negative opinion of him after the proposal.

More than 40% of both groups said their opinion hadn’t changed.

In other words, Buffett’s proposal had more supporters than detractors among the rich — though that support declines slightly as you move up the wealth ladder.

Explains George Walper of Spectrem: “What this tells us is that there are a number of wealthy folks who said: ‘Gee, we need to increase taxes to stimulate the economy. No one likes to be taxed more, but the reality is maybe it has to be done.’ ”

Walper added that he was also surprised at the positive reactions to Buffett’s political agenda. “I thought that among this group there would be a feeling of ‘why doesn’t he keep his nose out of it?’”