Taxes for Robert Rubin and Citigroup

The New York Sun reports on Robert Rubin's call for higher taxes on the rich:

Maybe Mr. Rubin is succumbing to that oh-so-human emotion of envy, enlisting in the "war on prosperity" that is brewing among the ranks of the leading Democratic presidential contenders, who have announced they intend to raise taxes on all filers earning more than $200,000 a year. For this, one of the richest men in America, Warren Buffett, has announced his readiness to do what he can to help elect either Senator Clinton or Obama. Far be it from us to gainsay both the Sage of Omaha and Greatest Secretary of the Treasury since Hamilton, but hedge funds and private equity have powered New York's economy and America in countless ways, contributing plenty to the tax base and beyond that to the city's philanthropic causes.

The returns earned by many of them have been substantially better than that of the company Mr. Rubin helps lead, Citigroup, which in April announced it was cutting 17,000 jobs. Yesterday Citigroup won approval from the city 's Industrial Development Agency to avoid paying millions of dollars in sales taxes on supplies for a building in Long Island City, Queens. Not to put too fine a point on it, but while Mr. Rubin is agitating to raise federal taxes on those in the financial industry who are doing well, his own company is seeking to pay less taxes in New York.

Robert Rubin and "tax fairness".