Billionaire Warren Buffett’s op-ed piece in the New York Times on Monday provided a neat bookend to last week’s Republican presidential debate.

Every last one of the contenders in that debate pledged they would never agree to raise taxes, even if $1 trillion in revenue were accompanied by $10 trillion in spending cuts. But here is Buffett, among the richest of the rich, advocating higher taxes on those making $1 million or more a year.

The contrast neatly captures the difference between sane, realistic thinking and the policies being promulgated by the tea party.

Buffett, whose $45 billion fortune ranks him second on Forbes’ list of richest Americans, is perfectly positioned to counter the destructive notion that taxes can never be raised, even when they’re at historic lows, as they are today. Perhaps he can persuade his pal Bill Gates — tops on the Forbes list with $54 billion — to come along for the ride.

Together, this pair has gotten dozens of the uber-rich — including Larry Ellison and Mark Zuckerberg — to sign The Giving Pledge, a commitment to donate the bulk of their fortunes rather than passing them down.

Why not launch a similar campaign to get their wealthy friends to urge Washington to adopt a more fair tax system?

And this is about fairness, not soaking the rich. Buffett criticizes Congress for protecting billionaires “much as if we were spotted owls.” He makes several arguments worth repeating:

Buffett cites the absurdity of the carried interest exemption, which allows billionaire hedge-fund managers to be taxed at 15 percent while the middle class pays 25 percent.

Last year, he says, he had the lowest tax rate — 17.4 percent — of anyone in his office, where the average rate was 36 percent.

Most convincingly, he cites his experience as a businessman. He says he has never seen anyone “shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain.”

In 1992, he says, the top 400 earners in the country made a total of $16.9 billion and paid a federal tax rate of 29.2 percent. In 2008, the total income of that group had more than quintupled, but their tax rate had fallen to 21.5 percent — just as the Great Recession was taking hold.

So much for lower taxes helping “job creators” keep the economy humming.

In arguing against higher taxes for the rich, conservatives like Republican presidential hopeful Rick Perry persistently cite one statistic: that half of Americans don’t pay income taxes.

No one says outright that this “other half” — consisting mostly of the poor, middle class, disabled and elderly — should pay more, but that’s the implication. Think about that: Taxes on the wealthy should go down, but others’ should go up? Wow.

Conservatives suggest Buffett should give his own money to the government but not compel others to do so. That would be no solution; Buffett’s entire fortune would cover less than 5 percent of this year’s deficit. What we need is a sensible system of taxation.

Buffett isn’t simply arguing that the rich can afford to pay more. Of course they can.

He’s saying that the poor and middle class have suffered disproportionately, through their military service and the Great Recession. He ends his piece by saying that it’s time for the wealthiest to share the sacrifice made by less-fortunate Americans.

Well? Isn’t it?

Editorial by the San Jose Mercury News distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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