K-STREET, 10,000 FEET: Berkshire Hathaway-owned Company CEO backs tax loophole that could benefit foreign companies and workers
THE LOWDOWN:
A company majority-owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is aggressively defending a tax loophole that could benefit foreign corporations at the expense of American workers, according to exclusive documents obtained by the Washington Reporter.
The CEO of a brokerage company that is majority-owned by Berkshire Hathaway, wrote an email, obtained and verified by the Reporter, to a proponent of the loophole’s repeal that he “will be actively working with our client base and other friends in this space to fully discredit the theory and scoring numbers that you and your team have used.”
The CEO claimed the term “double drawback” has been “debunked” by the courts in President Trump’s first term when, in fact, the courts only ruled that Congress had to act to close the loophole and that it could not be done solely through the Executive Branch.
Buffett, a longtime Democratic megadonor, famously said that Trump’s 2017 tax bill “is not what I would have written,” has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into progressive campaigns while his company exploits a tax dodge that threatens American workers. He announced his upcoming retirement at the end of 2025.
A company majority-owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway is aggressively defending a tax loophole that could benefit foreign corporations at the expense of American workers, according to exclusive documents obtained by the Washington Reporter.
The “double duty drawback” loophole for tobacco allows foreign companies to play a game that ultimately has the federal government refunding the federal excise tax on imported cigarettes. Former Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R., Ohio) has argued in the Reporter’s pages that the loophole “allows foreign tobacco companies to flood the U.S. market with cigarettes while receiving a refund to avoid federal excise taxes.”
However, the U.S. House of Representatives closed this loophole when it passed President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The CEO of a brokerage company that is majority-owned by Berkshire Hathaway, wrote an email, obtained and verified by the Reporter, to a proponent of the loophole’s repeal that he “will be actively working with our client base and other friends in this space to fully discredit the theory and scoring numbers that you and your team have used.”
Brokers often receive a percentage of the check cut by the government back to the foreign manufacturer, which can create a financial incentive to maintain this loophole at the expense of the American taxpayer.
In the email, the brokerage CEO disputes the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) $12 billion estimate of how much this is costing the American taxpayer over 10 years, pointing to Berkshire Hathaway’s back-of-the-napkin math that shows lower excise tax collections of “less than $500 million per year.”
That would still be half a billion dollars that would help pay for Trump’s tax cuts, instead of benefiting wealthy foreign companies or Berkshire Hathaway.
The CEO claimed the term “double drawback” has been “debunked” by the courts in President Trump’s first term when, in fact, the courts only ruled that Congress had to act to close the loophole and that it could not be done solely through the Executive Branch.
It’s no coincidence that Berkshire Hathaway, which donated over $2.7 million to Democrats during the 2024 election cycle, has a subsidiary company fighting against President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” and the landmark tax cuts for working Americans that are included within the legislation.
Buffett, a longtime Democratic megadonor, famously said that Trump’s 2017 tax bill “is not what I would have written,” has poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into progressive campaigns while his company exploits a tax dodge that threatens American workers.
Buffett recently announced he would be retiring from Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025.
