Warren Buffett Heading to Washington to Defend Estate Taxes
By: Alex Crippen | Executive Producer
Warren Buffett will be heading to Washington next Wednesday, to testify against eliminating the nation's estate taxes.
He'll be one of several witnesses at a 10a ET hearing titled "Federal Estate Tax: Uncertainty in Planning Under the Current Law." Also appearing: an estate planner from Connecticut, a State Senator/rancher from Nevada and the head of a manufacturing company in Iowa.
Buffett will speak before the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Max Baucus, Democrat of Montana. Baucus had promised Republicans his panel would look at estate taxes. Under a tax bill championed by President George Bush in 2001, estate taxes are being gradually reduced until 2011. At that point, unless Congress acts, estate taxes will be restored to their 2001 levels. (That's the "uncertainty in planning" to which the hearing title refers.)
It appears to be part of Buffett's "billionaires like me don't pay enough in taxes" campaign, which has not exactly caught on among his fellow members of the Forbes 400 club. (WBW Post: Warren Buffett's Fellow Billionaires Don't Bite on Million Dollar Tax Challenge.)
CNBC-TV and CNBC.com's Warren Buffett Watch will be bringing you the latest, including a live video stream of the hearing here on CNBC.com
Questions? Comments? Email me at buffettwatch@cnbc.com
