纽约更有趣

更低的企业所得税不太可能。美国的投资者已经只拥有D级的股票。A、B、C级股票的拥有者是对企业征所得税的联邦、州、市级政府。确实，那些“投资者”并不拥有企业的资产。但是，他们却获得企业盈利的主要一块。D级股票拥有者把盈利再投入来积累资本。增加的资本所创造的盈利却被政府收走。

A、B、C级股票的另一个诱人之处就在于股票持有者可以不经任何一方投票，就立刻，突然地提高对企业的盈利分成。比如A级股票（联邦一级）只要国会采取行动就行了。更有趣的是，这3个等级的其中一级有时投票决定增加企业过去盈利的分成。1975年在纽约运营的企业就发现自己处于这种可怕的境地。无论何时，只要A、B、C级股票拥有者自己投票决定增加盈利份额，剩下的部分 - 也就是留给D级普通股票投资者的部分，肯定减少。

展望未来，长期看A、B、C级股票拥有者投票决定减少自己份额的可能性不大。D级股票能保住自己那一份就不错了。

巴菲特：《通货膨胀如何欺诈股票投资者》（十）

More fun in New York

Lower corporate income taxes seem unlikely. Investors in American corporations already own what might be thought of as a Class D stock. The class A, B and C stocks are represented by the income-tax claims of the federal, state, and municipal governments. It is true that these "investors" have no claim on the corporation's assets; however, they get a major share of the earnings, including earnings generated by the equity buildup resulting from retention of part of the earnings owned by the Class D shareholders.

A further charming characteristic of these wonderful Class A, B and C stocks is that their share of the corporation's earnings can be increased immediately, abundantly, and without payment by the unilateral vote of any one of the "stockholder" classes, e.g., by congressional action in the case of the Class A. To add to the fun, one of the classes will sometimes vote to increase its ownership share in the business retroactively - as companies operating in New York discovered to their dismay in 1975. Whenever the Class A, B or C "stockholders" vote themselves a larger share of the business, the portion remaining for Class D - that's the one held by the ordinary investor - declines.

Looking ahead, it seems unwise to assume that those who control the A, B and C shares will vote to reduce their own take over the long run. The class D shares probably will have to struggle to hold their own.