Thrifty3000

Good point. From FFH 2009 report: "Our U.S. Treasury bond position was to a large extent replaced by $4.1 billion in U.S. state, municipal and other tax-exempt bonds (of which $3.6 billion carry a Berkshire Hathaway guarantee) with an average yield (at purchase) of approximately 5.79% per annum."

From the FFH annual report: "In 2009, for the first time ever, a significant portion of our pre-tax investment income (approximately $241 million) was derived from U.S. “Muni” bonds, the majority of which are taxed at very low rates (approximately 5%)."