Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway scores US$29 billion windfall thanks to Donald Trump’s US tax law
In his much-anticipated annual letter to shareholders, Buffett explained that the company’s net gain of US$65.3 billion in 2017 was only partly due to his employees’ efforts
Berkshire Hathaway, the holding company of US billionaire investor Warren Buffett, received a stunning US$29 billion last year from the US government, thanks to a new tax law that massively lowered corporate tax rates.
In his much-anticipated annual letter to shareholders, Buffett explained that the company’s net gain of US$65.3 billion in 2017 was only partly due to his employees’ efforts.
“Only US$36 billion came from Berkshire’s operations,” he wrote.
“The remaining US$29 billion was delivered to us in December when Congress rewrote the US Tax Code.”
Still, Buffett assured stockholders: “The US$65 billion gain is nonetheless real – rest assured of that.”
The new law, greatly touted by US President Donald Trump, lowered the tax rate paid by US corporations from 35 per cent to 21 per cent, allowing many to undertake major new outlays and others to book significant fiscal gains.