Warren Buffett opposes President Barack Obama’s proposed levy on financial institutions because firms including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. already repaid bailout funds.

“I don’t see any reason why they should be paying a special tax,” said Buffett, the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in an interview on Bloomberg Television today. Supporters of the plan to tax the banks “are trying to punish people,” he said. “I don’t see the rationale for it.”

Obama announced a plan last week to impose a fee on as many as 50 financial companies to recover losses from the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. The levy would apply to firms with more than $50 billion in assets, including Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, two companies that Berkshire has investments in. It would exclude Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage lenders taken over by the U.S.

“Look at the damage Fannie and Freddie caused, and they were run by the Congress,” said Buffett. “Should they have a special tax on congressmen because they let this thing happen to Freddie and Fannie? I don’t think so.”

Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and other beneficiaries of the bailout such as Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. repaid the money they got from the government. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac owe about $110 billion, according to Bloomberg data.

Unnecessary Rescue

“Most of the banks didn’t need to be saved,” Buffett said. “Including Wells Fargo.”

Before the U.S. Congress approved the bailout in 2008, Buffett, 79, said he was making a $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs because he expected the government to rescue financial companies.

“If I didn’t think the government was going to act, I would not be doing anything this week,” he said on cable network CNBC the day after announcing the Goldman Sachs investment in September 2008. “I might be trying to undo things this week. I am, to some extent, betting on the fact that the government will do the rational thing here and act promptly.”

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein, 55, was among bank executives who testified last week to a panel created by Congress to examine the causes of the economic collapse that roiled global markets. Blankfein defended his bank, the world’s most profitable securities firm, against criticisms that the mortgage securities it sold helped trigger the meltdown.