As far as Buffett paying a lower % of his money than his cleaning lady , it is because Buffett .... "chooses" not to pay himself an income , but pays his cleaning by way of income . If WB wants to , he can pay himself a salary and pay his cleaning lady through dividends , he could also give a gift / bonus every year and pay the gift tax on it for her .
Lessons From How Grace Groner Made and Gave Away $7 Million - The Wealth Report - WSJ .. had the feds taxed her at 70%
U.S. Treasury - Fact Sheet on the History of the U.S. Tax System , she would have never been able to do this .