Dear Warren

While I appreciate your candor in your recent newspaper article, in which you opined that the rich in our nation should pay more in taxes, please keep it to yourself.

You see, while I'm not super-rich by any measure, I am working my butt off to bring my household's income to the level that President Obama says 'rich' starts at, $250,000 a year.  I've got a long way to go before that happens, but hard work will pay off over time.

As it stands now, I'm giving a lot of money to the government in both taxes I pay directly and money I give to businesses when they pass on their tax bills to me in the price of their goods and services.  I pay income tax, property tax, energy tax, sales tax, as well as taxes on many of the services that I purchase in order to maintain the level of comfortable living that I want.

I don't think I need to pay more taxes, and while you may envision only the rates for the highest earners going up, the slippery slope theory of tax law leads me to believe that when that particular snowball gets going, my tax rates will go up and my upward mobility will slow or stop.

Mr. Buffett, if you feel you should be giving more of your income to the government, please feel free to do so.  In the mean time, please allow the rest of us to do the same if we so choose, or to do something meaningful with our money, either through investing, spending, or saving.  In other words, do something that makes you feel good and leave the rest of us alone.

Sincerely,

Daddy J. Bear