Sen. Warren's wealth tax: Small slices add up to billions

As the race for the Democratic presidential nomination narrows to a top tier of three candidates that includes Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts senator's proposed wealth tax is getting renewed attention. 

Unlike an income tax that takes some of each year's earnings, Warren's wealth tax would take a slice each year of a person's total accumulated wealth. And that can add up.

As Robert Frank reported on CNBC's "Closing Bell" this week, a study by two economists who helped create Warren's plan (2% annually on wealth above $50 million and 3% annually above $1 billion) finds that if the senator's wealth tax had been adopted in the early 1980s, Warren Buffett's fortune would now be $30 billion, instead of the current Forbes estimate of $84 billion. That's 64% over 37 years.

While Buffett told CNBC in 2012 that he would have "no objection" to a one-time wealth surtax, he didn't "particular favor" one either.

As this collection of video clips from CNBC's Warren Buffett Archive demonstrates, however, he has long been advocating higher income tax rates for very wealthy Americans.

The accumulative effect of Warren's wealth tax helps explain why very wealthy people aren't all that enthusiastic about it.  CNBC's Jim Cramer said today that Wall Street may be breathing easier because "she didn't do as well as (Joe) Biden" in Thursday's debate.

And earlier this week, Cramer "said he's hearing a 'she's got to be stopped' mantra bubbling up among executives on Wall Street and elsewhere."

Warren's response via Tweet to Cramer's report: "I approve this message."

Buffett fondly remembers T. Boone Pickens

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