Getting Serious about Shared Sacrifice

Mega-rich American Warren Buffett has called for his country to raise taxes for the super rich and lower taxes on the poor and middle class.

Buffet is the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway investment conglomerate, and is worth a staggering $50 billion, according to Forbes magazine.

Buffett says “extraordinary tax breaks” have been afforded to him and his super-rich counterparts in the past, but says it is time to change the American habit of helping the rich.

“These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species,” said Buffett in a New York Times opinion column.

According to Buffett, the majority of the mega-rich are decent people, who give much of their wealth to philanthropic causes and would not be hurt by an increase in taxes for the wealthy.

“My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice,” he said.

Meanwhile, some of Australia’s richest individuals are contemplating how they will disperse their wealth when they die.

Australia’s richest mining magnate Andrew Forrest, the CEO of Fortescue Metals, is worth $6.2 billion, according to the BRW executive rich list.

As a father of three, Forrest is well known for once declaring his children would not inherit a single cent of his fortune.

“Once you can look after your own needs it becomes superfluous. I don’t want to create some dynastic empire and they certainly don’t want to inherit it,” he told The Australian in 2008. While Forrest is one of the richest men in Australia, he is also renowned for being one of the most generous philanthropists, donating $80 million worth of options and shares to start The Australian Children’s Trust in 2007.

He has also spearheaded a campaign to help increase the quality of life for Kimberley Aboriginal communities in his native Western Australia.