Warren Buffett challenges Republicans to pay up to close US deficit Mr McConnell then dismissed 81-year-old Buffett's complaints that the wealthy were getting off easy compared to the middle class, in terms of the rate of taxes on their income, when the government was bleeding red ink. Mr Buffett, whose fortune from his Berkshire Hathaway investment group is put at some $50 billion, had said that at 17 percent, he pays a lower tax rate on income than his own secretary. If Warren Buffett would like to give up some of his benefits, we'd be happy to talk about it, McConnell told NBC television in September. With regard to his tax rate, if he's feeling guilty about it, I think he should send in a check. Mr Buffett retorted in the Time interview that he was pleased at the Republicans' optimism that tax collection can be done on a voluntary basis. "It restores my faith in human nature to think that there are people who have been around Washington all this time and are not yet so cynical as to think that (the deficit) can't be solved by voluntary contributions," he said. Asked if Mr McConnell's own wealth, put at over $10 million, would make the three-for-one challenge potentially costly, Mr Buffett, the world's third richest man, replied: "I'm not worried."