Written by So Obama wants to propose a millionaire tax, named after mister pay no taxes Warren Buffet.
“WASHINGTON — President Obama on Monday will call for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials.
With a special joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama’s effort to raise the political pressure on Republicans to agree to higher revenues from the wealthy in return for Democrats’ support of future cuts from Medicare and Medicaid.
Mr. Obama, in a bit of political salesmanship, will call his proposal the “Buffett Rule,” in a reference to Warren E. Buffett, the billionaire investor who has complained repeatedly that the richest Americans generally pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than do middle-income workers, because investment gains are taxed at a lower rate than wages.
Of course we know that Buffet pays next to nothing in taxes so even Buffet doesn’t do what he proposes to do. But if it’s true that everyone pay his or her fair share, then let’s end the loopholes and exclusions that allow 45 million Americans to pay essentially no taxes at all.
According to my math, getting taxes for those 45 percent of Americans would do more to pack the coffers than taxing those who make over 1 million a year. So if Obama is really serious we need to erase the exclusions that allow these free loaders to feast off the success of others. A point the NY Times hints have.
“The millionaires’ rate would affect only 0.3 percent of taxpayers, they said. That would be fewer than 450,000; 144 million returns were filed for 2010.”
Back during one of the Democratic debates Charles Gibson asked about taxing the rich on capital gains even though it failed to raise revenue in the past. Obama’s convoluted answer?
