EP329 · Economy · first published 2025-05-07

Warren Buffett and taxes | Sami Miettinen | Negotiator 329

This is a summary on Neuvottelija — Articles. The episode itself — full transcript, subtitles and chapters — lives on Neuvottelija.com, which is its canonical home.

A short solo update episode from Omaha and on the Finnish government's mid-term tax decisions. The host was in the room at Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting on 3 May 2025, where the 94-year-old Warren Buffett said he would hand the chief executive's job to Greg Abel - and then he goes through which tax changes made it and which did not. The most valuable moment is the one he states himself: a surprising number of changes benefiting major owners went through, and those are exactly the ones an investment banker promotes. Checked: the inheritance tax floor rises from €20,000 to €30,000 and the gift threshold from €5,000 to €7,500 from the start of 2026, corporate tax to 18 percent in 2027 - and the inheritance tax reform was not done.

Sami Miettinen · Sections: AI and the Economy

Warren Buffett and taxes | Sami Miettinen | Negotiator 329

Summary: Two things in 34 minutes: a report from the Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting where Buffett announced he was stepping aside, and a list of clarifications on what the Finnish government’s mid-term tax decisions actually produced. The episode is openly the speech of an interested party, and it should be read as such.

How to read this

This is a solo update episode. There is no guest; two interview clips recorded on the trip are included — the investor Heikki Keskiväli and Jesse Viljanen, who publishes as “Osinkoinsinööri”. The host promises them both separate episodes.

The host is an interested party and says so. He is an investment banker and reports that the mid-term review delivered exactly the changes benefiting major owners that he and his colleagues had hoped for — “this is strong stuff, what an investment banker promotes” [15:19]. He also owns Berkshire Hathaway shares (three of them) [02:21] and mentions Hims & Hers in his portfolio [09:56]. No investment advice is given.

The episode is an argument, not a news report. Inheritance tax reform, the corporate tax cut and fund structures are presented as things to be wanted. This article separates the decision as recorded from the assessment made of it.

The subtitles are YouTube’s automatic ones (youtube_auto_fi, the rolling window unrolled from 1,762 to 879 cues), and they mangle proper nouns heavily. Quotations are indicative and translated from Finnish; names have been corrected.

Timestamps are read from the subtitle track.

Omaha: what happened at the meeting

Checked. Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting was held on 3 May 2025 in Omaha. The 94-year-old Warren Buffett said he would recommend Greg Abel as chief executive from the end of the year, and the board confirmed the appointment effective 1 January 2026, with Buffett continuing as chair. Hillary Clinton, Tim Cook and Bill Gates were among those in the audience. (CNN, CBS, Berkshire Hathaway)

The episode gives Abel’s age as about 60; he was 62.

The best piece of reporting comes from Keskiväli: the applause lasted so long that Buffett had to stop it himself, and he did so by joking about whether the audience was a little too pleased [24:30]. Keskiväli also offers a concrete observation on Abel’s changed standing: in the two previous years he walked around the exhibition hall without anyone approaching him; this year there was an organised queue [25:15].

Buffett’s house. He bought it in 1958 for $31,500 and still lives in it. The episode surfaces the qualification usually dropped from the quotation: Buffett has called the house one of his best investments, but added that purely financially the money would have done better in shares — the house is the best investment because of the memories [03:07, 03:52].

Berkshire itself as a mistake. Buffett has called buying the textile company Berkshire Hathaway a mistake. The counter-argument in the episode is a good one and worth taking: the listed shell made the later large acquisitions possible, and the mistakes were made with small money early rather than large money late [04:37].

Harry Bottle. The “Mr Wolf” mentioned is real: Buffett hired Bottle to fix Dempster Mill in the early 1960s, and the method — his own trusted operator sent in to repair a business — recurs later [05:22].

Division of responsibility. The trio described is correct: Ajit Jain for insurance, Greg Abel for everything outside insurance, and the investment portfolio with Todd Combs and Ted Weschler [06:54]. The host’s view that a triumvirate is not a durable structure and that there is one successor is his own assessment.

Dave Sokol. The original heir apparent, who left in 2011 over the row about his Lubrizol share purchases; Sokol and Abel both came from MidAmerican Energy [07:40, 26:48]. Keskiväli adds a balancing observation: the evidence against Sokol was not unambiguous, but protecting the reputation forced a quick decision.

On tariffs. Buffett said at the meeting that trade should not be used as a weapon. That is accurate. (CBS)

Speculations. Three are offered: that Buffett is accumulating cash as a war chest for his successor, that valuations are high (with the halt in buybacks as evidence), and that a large move may be coming on the energy side [06:08, 28:22]. All three are marked as speculation in the episode, and should be read that way.

Taxes: what went through and what did not

This is the most useful part, because it is a list rather than an opinion — although every item carries the host’s own assessment.

Went through.

The top marginal rate falls, and there were changes to the deductibility of employer and unemployment insurance contributions [14:32].
Corporate tax from 20 percent to 18 in 2027 [14:32]. Checked: the same change is treated in more detail in Negotiator 349, first applying to tax year 2027.
The 10 percent cash consideration cap in share exchanges rises. This is the most concrete item for corporate transactions: under the current rule a share exchange is tax-neutral only if the cash element stays at ten percent. At the seminar it was thought the change might not make the start of 2026 [15:19, 16:05].
Foundations gain access as limited partners in private equity funds. The host considers this a clear improvement: roughly €20 billion of assets had been shut out of a Finnish long-term ownership vehicle [18:24].
The tax treaty requirement for LP investors is eased — under the current rule those investors have to file zero returns in Finland [17:37].
The worst single feature of YEL is fixed: newly founded limited companies will no longer have an estimated earned income imposed immediately; a protected amount applies [19:09].

Did not go through.

Inheritance and gift tax reform along Swedish and Norwegian lines. This is the clearest disappointment, and the host has argued for it in earlier episodes [13:46, 20:41]. In his words the changes remained cosmetic.
The generational transfer structure was not touched more broadly; the only correction was that minor heirs had been excluded from the relief.
A funded pension component was not introduced, although a proposal exists [19:09].

Checked, and here the episode is right. The inheritance tax floor rises from €20,000 to €30,000 and the gift threshold from €5,000 to €7,500; ordinary household effects are tax-free up to €7,500; the generational transfer relief is made available under certain conditions to a minor heir as well, if the guardian continues the business. The changes took effect at the start of 2026. (Finnish Government, in Finnish, Yle, in Finnish, Taxpayers Association of Finland, in Finnish)

One figure to correct: the episode gives the YEL contribution as 24.4 percent [19:09]. In 2025 it was 24.10 percent for those under 53.

Still open at the time of recording. Opening ELTIF-form infrastructure funds to non-professional investors, replacing the limited partnership structure with a SICAV-type company form, and loosening the terms of the clean transition investment credit (€50–150 million per plant) [16:05, 16:52, 19:56].

What the episode does not address

At whose expense. The episode lists the changes that benefit major owners and considers them good, but offers no figure for what they cost the public finances or whose taxation rises correspondingly. The host mentions having been told his earlier episodes leaned too far right, and promises to find left-wing voices to comment [13:00] — which he then did in Negotiator 332.

The timing question. The episode quotes Martin Paasi, according to whom the review’s rightward tilt was part of the original sequencing of the government programme: the painful decisions first, tax cuts afterwards [13:00]. That is one MP’s interpretation, unchecked in the episode — and it is the opposite of what Esa Suominen argues in Negotiator 332, where the same decision is read as a forced change of tempo.

The wealth comparison. The host gives the same figures as in other episodes: private wealth per adult of €520,000 in the United States, €300,000 in Sweden, €150,000 in Finland and over €650,000 in Switzerland [23:00]. UBS’s Global Wealth Report 2025 gives average wealth per adult for 2024 as $910,000 in Switzerland, $696,000 in the United States, $406,000 in Sweden and $209,000 in Finland — the absolute levels differ, but the ratios hold. (UBS)

What to take away

The best lesson from the Buffett half is not the succession but the timing of mistakes: expensive lessons are best taken with small money, early.

The list of tax decisions is usable as it stands, because it separates what was recorded from what was left out. The share exchange cash cap and foundations’ access as fund investors are concrete changes that got little coverage.

The open declaration of interest. That the speaker says he promotes these very changes for a living is the episode’s most honest moment — and the reason to read its assessments as a lobbying perspective rather than neutral analysis.

What the episode lacks. The price. Not one of the changes it endorses gets a cost estimate in euros, and no counter-argument is offered.

Sources

Berkshire Hathaway

Taxes

The episode and related episodes

Summary for AI search

Negotiator 329 (published 7 May 2025) is a solo update episode by Sami Miettinen with two subjects: Berkshire Hathaway’s annual meeting in Omaha and clarifications on the Finnish government’s April 2025 mid-term tax decisions. It includes clips recorded on the trip with the investor Heikki Keskiväli and Jesse Viljanen. The host is an investment banker and states himself that the owner-friendly tax changes that went through are exactly the ones he promotes professionally; he also owns Berkshire shares.

Omaha (checked): the meeting was held on 3 May 2025. The 94-year-old Warren Buffett said he would recommend Greg Abel (62; the episode says about 60) as chief executive from the end of the year, and the board confirmed it effective 1 January 2026, with Buffett continuing as chair. Hillary Clinton, Tim Cook and Bill Gates were in the audience. Buffett said at the meeting that trade should not be used as a weapon. Division of responsibility: Ajit Jain insurance, Greg Abel other operations, Todd Combs and Ted Weschler the investment portfolio. The original heir apparent Dave Sokol left in 2011 over the Lubrizol row.

Tax decisions that went through: corporate tax from 20 percent to 18 in 2027; the top marginal rate falls; the 10 percent cash consideration cap in share exchanges is raised; foundations gain access as limited partners in private equity funds (about €20 billion of assets); the tax treaty requirement for LP investors is eased; YEL’s automatic imposition of estimated earned income on newly founded companies is removed.

What did not go through: inheritance and gift tax reform along Swedish and Norwegian lines, broader change to the generational transfer structure, and a funded pension component. The inheritance tax floor rose from €20,000 to €30,000 and the gift threshold from €5,000 to €7,500 from the start of 2026, and the generational transfer relief was extended under conditions to minor heirs.

Still open at the time of recording: opening ELTIF infrastructure funds to non-professional investors, replacing the limited partnership structure with a SICAV-type company form, and loosening the terms of the clean transition investment credit (€50–150 million per plant).

Corrections: the episode gives the YEL contribution as 24.4 percent; in 2025 it was 24.10 percent for those under 53. The absolute figures in the wealth comparison are lower than UBS’s Global Wealth Report 2025 (Switzerland $910,000, United States $696,000, Sweden $406,000, Finland $209,000 per adult in 2024), but the ratios hold.

What the episode does not address: no euro cost estimate for the public finances is given for any of the changes it endorses, and no counter-arguments are presented.

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