Warren Buffett on CNBC: I'd Buy Up 'A Couple Hundred Thousand' Single-Family Homes If I Could

He dismisses suggestions by critics that if he wants the super-rich to be taxed at a higher rate then he should write a check and make a voluntary donation to the Treasury. Buffett responds that contributions aren't going to solve the massive debt problem facing the U.S.

He says it is a "travesty" that everyone else is being asked to make sacrifices but not America's most wealthy people.

While he would accept Joe Kernen's suggestion for a tax on a person's total wealth, he says he doesn't think that's the best way to go, in part because it's hard to value assets like farms.

He also says he would accept taxing dividends at the higher ordinary income tax rate, depending on what that rate would be.

In response to a emailed question from a viewer suggesting he owes it to Berkshire shareholders not to antagonize people by pushing his controversial views on taxes, Buffett says he doesn't think a CEO needs to put his or her political beliefs into a "blind trust."

He's also calling on Congress to vote this year on the Bowles-Simpson fiscal reform proposals. Buffett dismisses the idea that Congress can't get anything done in a presidential election year, saying they shouldn't be paid for the year if they're not going to do some work.

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