Countering Americans’ tendency toward “self-criticism and self-doubt,” billionaire Warren Buffett expressed, in his annual letter to Berkshire-Hathaway investors, enthusiasm for the long-term growth of the nation’s economy saying, “I have yet to see a time when it made sense to make a long-term bet against America.”

Perhaps the most interesting observation made by Buffett, however, had to do with the corporate tax structure in the United States and how it tilts to favor major corporations:

The $32 trillion of revenue [collected by the US Treasury during the decade ending in 2022] was garnered by the Treasury through individual income taxes (48%), social security and related receipts (34 1⁄2 %), corporate income tax payments (8 1⁄2 %) and a wide variety of lesser levies. Berkshire’s contribution via the corporate income tax was $32 billion during the decade, almost exactly a tenth of 1% of all money that the Treasury collected.

And that means – brace yourself – had there been roughly 1,000 taxpayers in the U.S. matching Berkshire’s payments, no other businesses nor any of the country’s 131 million households would have needed to pay any taxes to the federal government. Not a dime.

It should also be noted that over that time period, Berkshire never had a losing year.  And $3.2 billion in annual tax payments from, say, ExxonMobil’s $55 billion in profit wouldn’t even be the minimum tax as suggested by the Biden Administration.