The Hill News

Billionaire Ted Turner, chairman of Turner Enterprises Inc., said Tuesday that his “super-rich” friend Warren Buffett was only speaking for himself when he asked the government to tax him at a higher rate.

“Nobody likes to pay more taxes. At least, except Warren Buffett likes to pay more taxes. He’s the only one,” Turner told Bloomberg Television.

{mosads}Buffett, investment guru and one of the wealthiest men in the world, wrote an op-ed in August pushing Congress to raise taxes on him and his rich friends that inspired the “Buffett rule,” which was included in President Obama’s plan to reduce the federal deficit as a means of paying for the plan by raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations.

"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress,” Buffett wrote for The New York Times.

“[Buffett] can always write a check to the government. Just send them the money,” sai! d Turner, repeating a suggestion made by Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). “It’s a lot easier for [Buffett] and Bill Gates to give away half of what they have, because they have so much.”

Republicans have opposed Obama’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, arguing that burdening the wealthy with extra taxes will have a negative trickle-down effect on the lower and middle classes.

Turner, who lost millions in a merger with AOL, said he worries a lot about the uncertain economic situation.

“I think every wealthy person is afraid they’re going to lose it,” he said.