Buffett Offers Advice to Trump on Government Spending After Paying $26.8 Billion in Tax

In his annual letter to shareholders, Warren Buffett reflected on Berkshire Hathaway’s successes over the past year while offering the Trump administration some advice on responsible stewardship of the U.S. economy.

He highlighted Berkshire Hathaway’s tax contributions as a testament to its growth, contrasting its zero-income tax payments before his 1965 takeover with the record-breaking $26.8 billion it paid to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) last year. This sum, he noted, was more than any U.S. company—including trillion-dollar tech giants—had ever contributed to corporate income tax.

“To be precise, Berkshire last year made four payments to the IRS that totaled $26.8 billion,” Buffett wrote. “That’s about 5 percent of what all of corporate America paid. (In addition, we paid sizable amounts for income taxes to foreign governments and to 44 states.)”

Buffett attributed this staggering tax payment to Berkshire’s longstanding policy of reinvesting profits rather than issuing dividends. Since 1965, shareholders have received just one cash dividend—10 cents per share in 1967—allowing the company to compound its earnings and taxable income over six decades. As a result, Buffett said, Berkshire’s total tax payments to the U.S. Treasury now exceed $101 billion.

Buffett’s call to Uncle Sam to “spend wisely” comes at a time when the Trump administration is doubling down on spending cuts to rein in the United States’s growing public debt. As part of this effort, President Donald Trump has launched the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), tasking it with identifying waste, fraud, and abuse in federal spending.

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Elon Musk, who leads DOGE, has warned that unless federal debt is reduced, interest payments alone will spiral out of control, threatening the future of Medicare and Social Security.

Experts have long warned that excessive, mismanaged debt—especially when fueled by money creation or unsustainable borrowing—leads to inflation, loss of investor confidence, and currency depreciation.

“Annual spending on net interest has more than tripled since FY 2017, when it was $263 billion,” GAO wrote in the Feb. 5 report. “We estimate spending on interest will be more than $1 trillion in FY 2025. The growing debt and interest costs pose serious economic, security, and social challenges to the U.S.”

Buffett’s message to the Trump administration wasn’t solely about fiscal discipline—it also carried a message of compassion for the less fortunate.

“Take care of the many who, for no fault of their own, get the short straws in life. They deserve better,” Buffett wrote.

“And never forget that we need you to maintain a stable currency and that result requires both wisdom and vigilance on your part.”