Obama Holds Up Warren Buffet’s Secretary As Example of Economic Injustice . . . She Makes Between $200,000 And $500,000 a Year…
This poor woman, how does she manage to survive?
(Forbes) — Warren Buffet’s secretary, Debbie Bosanek, served as a stage prop for President Obama’s State of the Union speech. She was the President’s chief display of the alleged unfairness of our tax system – a little person paying a higher tax rate than her billionaire boss.
Bosanek’s prominent role in Obama’s “fairness” campaign piqued my curiosity, and I imagine the curiosity of others. How much does her boss pay this downtrodden woman? So far, no one has volunteered this information.
We can get an approximate answer by consulting IRS data on tax rates by adjusted gross income, which would approximate her salary, assuming she does not have significant dividend, interest or capital-gains income (like her boss). I assume Buffet keeps her too busy for her to hold a second job. I also do not know if she is married and filing jointly. If so, it is deceptive for Obama to use her as an example. The higher rate may be due to her husband’s income. So I assume the tax rate Obama refers to is from her own earnings.
Insofar as Buffet (like Mitt Romney) earns income primarily from capital gains, which are taxed at 15 percent (and according to Obama need to be raised for reasons of fairness), we need to determine how much income a taxpayer like Bosanek must earn in order to pay an average tax rate above fifteen percent. This is easy to do.
The IRS publishes detailed tax tables by income level. The latest results are for 2009. They show that taxpayers earning an adjusted gross income between$100,000 and $200,000 pay an average rate of twelve percent. This is below Buffet’s rate; so she must earn more than that. Taxpayers earning adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 to $500,000, pay an average tax rate of nineteen percent. Therefore Buffet must pay Debbie Bosanke a salary above two hundred thousand.
Posted by ZIP on Wednesday, January 25, 2012, at 9:04 pm | 
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And the media made it out to be she was knocking down around $40k/year. What a fucking sham!
Did O’Blamey and the First Wookie take the EIC deduction on their taxes?
Isn’t that Juan Jose Redin on the secretary’s left, the former illegal alien guest of the Obamas?
http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/notitas-de-noticias/details/mexican-born-attorney-was-first-ladys-guest-at-presidents-state-of-the-unio/13557/
Poor thing, lucky for her she still has her job in this economy….can’t imagine how she would make it on an unemployment check.
She may have to sell Avon
Good. That means under the Democrats plans to get rid of the Bush tax cuts for those making $200+K she’ll pay even more than she’s paying now! Mwahahaha! Bring on the taxes!
That much for a secretary?…..she must be buffing the Buffet.
She is so overtaxed that the only 2nd home she can afford is in Phx. AZ and costs a measly $175,000. It only has one swimming pool and a putting green. If only buffet would pay his fair share I am sure she could afford a whole golf course.
First time I have seen a third chin on the side of a face.
@Sentinel
And the media made it out to be she was knocking down around $40k/year.
That’s media math (notice the similarities between theirs and the WH).
@Sadie – It is now called economic fairness.
I agree, she’s paying too high a rate – flat tax for everyone!
☺↓♥◘ ☺☺☺ ☼‼↕◄7► “♂♀♪►8◄ ↕‼♠♣♦•◘○◙♂♀♪♪♫☼ ◄↕‼¶§▬↨↑↓→←∟↔M▲↕↨K▼”#$%&’()*+see ./200 /400 g’s EM25 ♪▼W ! ♫ = [♥ BJ]…. Thats about all i gotus say. Thank you for listin
And she’ll cast her vote for Obozo. Again.
You can’t fix stupid.
Yeah, poor thing probably had to really scrimp and save to buy that second house.
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/buster/warren-buffett-secretary-homes-654812
lets see her tax returns.
Warmer Buttmuffins is a scoundrel and lowlife snake
The fact (if it is true) that she pays a 28% marginal tax rate says nothing about what she actually makes in her job without knowing what her husband earns in his, the range being $139,350 to $212,300. If she is single, a 28% marginal rate applies from $100,000 to $174,400. In either case, it would not be an unreasonable salary, high or low, for an executive assistant at this level. The fact that some want to characterize her as a “mere” secretary to prove their point, and others want to assume the 28% number refers to an average rate, thereby inflating her income to prove their point, burns the candle at both ends.
ABO 2012
Well, it seems she’s being well paid to be a donkey’s doxy.
If Buffett is so concerned about paying more taxes, why doesn’t he set an example and pay full freight by taking no deductions? Somebody has to lead us out of this mess until Congress can get their act together and reset the tax rates so everyone defined as “rich” can be bankrupted. Once he does this publically and offers up his tax returns for the past 20 years or so, I’m sure all the rich people will promptly follow suit……waiting, waiting, waiting……crickets?
And if his secretary thinks she is going to get a break – she needs to think again. Looks like her income puts her well into Obama’s greedy rich category of $200K + (today’s price, down from $250K a mere few months ago). She may end up having to sell off that 2nd home to pay the man in a year or so. Unless of course she can get a deal on a taxpayer subsidized refi.
Zip, you ave NO idea how much money she makes. In the comments to his wn article the “author”/fabulist of the piece says (and I quote) “Deborah, I make no claim for accuracy.”.
I get that the partisan hurdle here is roughly the ame as it a Forbes, but perhaps reading article might help?
First, you skim a million word Ryan Lizza piece on how the Resident can’t do anything because of Republican dishonesty and obstructionism and you pull one sentence from that article to make a point Lizza did not and now you mis-red the crayon scribbles of one of the oligarchy’s house pets?
Jesus….Conservatives need better aggregators
Since Obama brought her up, we should see her tax returns.
@Timb
Actually, you just one sentence out and failed to deal with the argument, instead going for ad hominem. I’m guessing from your lack of reasoning capacity that you are a liberal.
Unsaid in all this (as far as I have heard), is the reminder that it is INCOME that is taxed NOT WEALTH. There is a difference, of course, but the class envy card play would be foiled by that realization on the part of the great mass of dopes that inhabit America today. Buffett purposely pays himself no wages to avoid the higher level of taxation that accompany those higher wages. Remember, as George Carlin said, and I am paraphrasing. Think about how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider……………………….
Mathematics!
What a scientific way to debunk a myth.
That myth being the intelligence of the POTUS.
And that’s exactly the point of all this– since Deb the Secretary has NOT released HER tax return, NOBODY knows how much income tax she paid, except herself. For the Obamas to say she paid more income tax (or a higher rate) than her boss, it is PURE SPECULATION on their part, until they PROVE IT. It would also violate federal Privacy Act regulations to even have that information, if they in fact did so.
@spepper – right.
Additionally, think about it, one could never believe that woman earned only $40K per year – no way – who the hell would work for that little being Buffet’s secretary? I am sure we are not talking “secretary” like one working for the rank and file in a company – this is THE executive secretary who probably does his scheduling, etc. C’mon – executive secretaries in much smaller companies than Buffet’s make a ton more than $40K. They can easily hit $150K or higher.