Warren Buffett has recently called on congress to raise the taxes of people earning more than $1,00,000.  He argues that since most of his income is derived from dividends rather than wages he pays a lower rate of about 15% vs ordinary americans who he says pay between 15 to 25% plus heavy payroll taxes to boot.

Since that time I have heard many argue that Mr. Buffett is unique since there are many people earning $1,000,000 + who derive their income through wages or self-employment income.  I wondered if Mr. Buffet's assertions about himself and ordinary americans is really true so I did some quick math and found the results to be quite interesting.

One first must realize that wages or dividends must come from corporate earnings.  What does it look like as money flows from these corporate earnings to a hypothetical secretary or to a hypothetical billionaire?

For my secretary, I assumed that she earns $50,000, is single, and does not itemize her tax return.  This keeps the math simple and maximizes the tax that she would owe.

Benjamin Franklin

On the Price of Corn and Management of the Poor, 1776

To Messiuers the Public and Co.

I am one of that class of people that feeds you all, and at present is abus’d by you all; in short I am a Farmer.

By your News-papers we are told, that God had sent a very short harvest to some other countries of Europe. I thought this might be in favour to Old England; and that now we should get a good price for our grain, which would bring in millions among us, and make us flow in money, that to be sure is scarce enough.

But the wisdom of Government forbad the exportation.

May 17, 2012

I walked into my office this morning and found a message that Joy Lambert with ABC24 news was looking for me.  I called her back and found out she was interested in learning about insurance carrier practices when underwriting individuals for health insurance.  I'm always looking for ways to promote our business so I agreed to visit with her.

Click here to see the interview and video.

Update: BlueCross to Change Network S for Memphis Area in 2013

BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee has reached a preliminary agreement with Methodist Healthcare to replace Baptist Memorial Health Care hospitals in Memphis, Tipton County and DeSoto County, Miss., beginning Jan. 1, 2013.  We do not expect these changes to affect any of our other BlueCross provider networks.

As the largest provider in West Tennessee, Methodist will serve as a partner in our on-going efforts to provide your clients and our members with affordable health solutions. While all details of the agreement are not final; we will make them available when they are complete.

We are proud to have Habitat for Humanity of Greater Memphis as one of our customers.  Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing ministry.  Habitat seeks to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the world, and to make decent shelter a matter of conscience and action.

On Saturday November 5, Habitat is having a Tool Box Bash at 6pm.  The event will be held at Bridges Memphis located at 477 North 5th Street.

You can click here or on the image above to purchase tickets online.  You can also contact Crystal Hardin at 901-322-3510.

Please join Habitat for Humanity and make a difference.

BancorpSouth - Some Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) have been compromised at BancorpSouth.

 I'm continuing my quest to promote my client's services to each other.  I'd like to tell you about some of my good customers this week and introduce you about one of the members of my business networking group.

Zoccola Kaplan, PLLC

Tax season is approaching.  Zoccola Kaplan, PLLC is a locally owned full service CPA firm.  They are experienced in all matters of accounting including taxation, IRS problem resolution, estates & trust, business formation, financial planning and investment, real estate & business sales.

My good friends at Prime Urgent Medical sent me a note that they are sponsoring the 2011 India Festival "Passage Through India."

The festival will take place at The Agricenter on Nov 5 from 10am through 6pm.

There will be authentic Indian food from all parts of India, dancing, music, shopping. The price is $3 for Adults and kids 12 and over.

The program will support the Mid-South Food Bank.  Please bring cans of food for each kid entry.

Hudspeth Benefits specializes in employee benefits; however, we don't do commerical lines of coverage such as workers comp, general liability, etc.  When someone asks us about this type of coverage we usually refer them to Mike McDaniel and Richard Whitley at McDaniel Whitley, Inc.

Their primary specialty is surety bonds and insurance for general contractors, trade contractors, etc.  They also have insurance and risk management resources for manufacturers, distributors, restaurants, and many retail businesses.  They have many years of experience and are experts in their fields.   McDaniel Whitley is a member of the Associated Builders & Contractors association as well as The Associated General Contractors of America.

If you are having issues with your commercial coverage, please give Mike or Richard a call at 901-881-6464.  Please also take a look at their website mcdanielwhitley.com and their facebook page http://www.facebook.com/mcwbonds.

Because our primary business is health insurance, people often ask us for recommendations on providers to use.  If you don't have a regular physician or need care at odd hours or don't want to wait for an appointment, you should try our friends at Prime Urgent Medical Clinic.  They have a staff of Board-certified physicians, qualified nurse practitioners and well trained staff.

They participate in most PPO plans including Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CIGNA, Coventry, Humana, United Healthcare, and others.  Prime Urgent Medical Clinic has three locations around Memphis.

All three locations are open 8am through 8pm Monday through Friday.  On Saturdays they are open from 10am - 6pm, and 1pm - 6pm on Sundays.  There are only closed on 4 days during the year.  4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, & New Years Day.

Jason Smith is a member of my BNI networking team.  His company Windstream will  be fielding calls tonight for the Ronald McDonald radiothon the number is 800-230-kids (5437)

If you can dontate great give em a call; it’s a GREAT cause.

Click below if you'd like to make a donation.