Warren Buffett, the billionaire many times over who demands that “the rich” not be “coddled” famously claims that neither he, nor any investor he knows has ever made a decision about where to put their capital based on tax considerations.  It might be easy to dismiss his claim as utter Bovine Scatology, but it may be true and says much about his cloistered life and how few friends he has – deservedly.

In this article (Pay taxes? Nyet!) are just a few who go to the extreme of renouncing their citizenship to be rid of the Internal Revenue Service. With a bit more imagination than has Mr. Buffett one can fairly expect that many more do something less extreme and fashion their choices based on lowering tax consequences or even (Horrors!) cheat!

Mr. Buffett gains attention from a fawning press and an intellectually incurious President, demanding that “millionaires and billionaires” pay a higher tax than “his secretary” and at the same time he refuses to pay hundreds of billions in back taxes. Like our President, when all the posturing is done, he pays less still than his faithful assistant.