Charles Munger, the longtime business partner of Warren Buffett, is skeptical of recent Democratic proposals to tax the wealthiest Americans.
“A lot of civilizations work very well with low taxes on the rich,” Munger, 95, said in an interview Thursday after the annual shareholder meeting in Los Angeles of the Daily Journal Corp., where he serves as chairman. “So it’s a very complicated subject” and there’s a lack of evidence that one system is better than another.
Democratic policy makers including Senator Elizabeth Warren and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have advocated raising taxes on the rich. Munger, a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. vice chairman who owned more than $1.4 billion in company stock as of September, argued there’s a “lot of ignorance” around the tax issue. He said politicians oversimplify the problem, and their infighting doesn’t help the country overall.
“Hatred blinds reason and both sides are blinding reason,” Munger said. “How can it possibly be good?”
He also criticized states including Connecticut and New York for “driving out all the rich people” after public backlash pushed Amazon.com Inc. to cancel plans for another headquarters in New York. The wealthy are typically older and don’t burden public services such as schools or prisons, while keeping hospitals busy, Munger said in a CNBC interview aired Friday.
“Who wouldn’t want rich people?” Munger said.
Here are some of Munger’s comments on other subjects in the interview with Bloomberg:
Jain And Abel
The promotion of Ajit Jain and Greg Abel to vice chairmen at Berkshire has made the board better, Munger said. Jain is a “never-ending source of talent” and Abel does some things better than Buffett himself, Munger said.
Sears