‘Thank You, Uncle Sam’: Warren Buffett Praises Taxes Despite Saying ‘If Berkshire Had Sent the Treasury a $1 Million Check Every 20 Minutes’ for a Year, It Would Still …

Each year millions of Americans decry tax time. But not Warren Buffett. In fact, the Oracle of Omaha penned “Thank you, Uncle Sam” in his 2024 shareholder letter, and said he hoped Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) would pay even more in federal taxes in future years.

This writing came after Berkshire paid $26.8 billion in taxes in 2024, which it broke into four payments over the course of the year. Buffett boasted that his holding company “paid far more in corporate income tax than the U.S. government had ever received from any company – even the American tech titans that [command] market values in the trillions.”

To help shareholders realize just how significant that 2024 tax bill was, Buffett said that had Berkshire made a $1 million payment every 20 minutes for all of 2024, it still would owe money. The company, he estimated, would have needed to keep paying into January 2025 before it was off the hook. Then, it would take a “short breather, get some sleep, and prepare for our 2025 tax payment.”

It’s hard to fathom owing $26.8 billion in taxes, much less the cumulative $101 billion in taxes that the company has paid out over its lifetime.

Perhaps the sheer size of the tax payment is what makes Buffett so keen on forgiving Uncle Sam over what he owes. But the truth more likely lies in two key reasons.

The first is that it’s a point of pride for Berkshire’s chairman. That’s because when he took over in 1965, the company had owed zero dollars in income tax for a decade, what he described as a corporate “embarrassment.” Elaborating, Buffett penned “That sort of economic behavior may be understandable for glamorous startups, but it’s a blinking yellow light when it happens at a venerable pillar of American industry. Berkshire was headed for the ash can.”

But instead of the ash can, Berkshire went to the moon. Buffett has become a beloved figure on Wall Street and Main Street, and the seemingly doomed company back in 1965 is now worth $1.065 trillion.

In that sense, the 2024 tax bill was a pleasant “surprise” for Berkshire and the U.S. Treasury.

The second reason is that Buffett is a big believer in the U.S. He is quick to credit the corporate landscape in America for enabling Berkshire’s success over the last many decades, writing that “Berkshire would not have achieved its results in any locale except America.”

In conclusion, Buffett is proud of what he and late business partner Charlie Munger built at Berkshire Hathaway. And he hopes his legacy keeps growing under incoming CEO Greg Abel – and then for many generations after. One way to measure this will be how much the company owes the U.S. government each year come tax time.

“Someday your nieces and nephews at Berkshire hope to send you even larger payments than we did in 2024. Spend it wisely.”

On the date of publication, Sarah Holzmann did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com