In these tough economic times, there’s no reason hard-working middle class families should be paying a higher tax rate than someone making over a million dollars a year.
Sign the petition to help Senator Sheldon Whitehouse pass the “Paying a Fair Share Act” and make the “Buffett Rule” a reality. This legislation will finally close the loopholes in our tax code that allow the super-rich to pay less than 30% in taxes —and cost our country billions.
By standing together, we can make sure that all Americans are paying a fair share — not just the middle class.
Warren Buffett Reveals ‘Billionaire Friendly’ Tax Return
Coincidentally, a new study is out validating everything that Buffett has been saying: “Report: A quarter of U.S. millionaires pay taxes at a lower rate than some in middle class.”
The reality is that effective players in politics use a “carrot and stick” approach to policy, essentially creating a Pavlovian response from politicians. This is how effective conservative outfits like Club for Growth operate, and have done so for years. Effective advocates reward good behavior—even a show of good behavior—and attack bad behavior…
The smart move is to cheer like crazy for the Buffett Rule. Urge your congressmembers to support it, and refuse a budget deal that doesn’t contain it. Let them know that you won’t vote for them or support them if they don’t insist on the Buffett Rule’s inclusion in the final budget. At the same time, rage and fight like heck against Medicare and Medicaid cuts, and urge your congressmembers that you won’t vote for them or support them if they allow cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Because in the end, the likelihood of getting Medicare cuts through a Democratic Senate should be as hopeless as the likelihood of getting a Buffett Rule through the GOP House. Much as the bipartisan compromise fetishists claim that sort of divided government would be a horrible thing, that’s actually a good thing. It has to get worse before it can get better, because right now only the [right-wing] side is playing for keeps.
But more importantly, Obama Administration critics and defenders need to realize that this shouldn’t be about supporting or attacking the President. It should be about engendering a twitch response in our politicians that we’ll support them for doing the right thing—even saying they’ll do the right thing—and not support them when they don’t.
President Barack Obama plans to call Monday for a new minimum tax rate on millionaires as part of a comprehensive rewrite of the U.S. tax code to force the wealthiest Americans to pay the same share of income in taxes as middle-class families.
In a twist on Obama’s long-standing assertion that the wealthy should do more to tame the soaring national debt, the proposal would target the top 0.3 percent of taxpayers, many of whom currently reap huge benefits from lower rates on capital gains and dividends, which form the bulk of their earnings.
While the idea has little chance of winning congressional approval, it could help shape a populist message for Obama and other Democrats heading into the 2012 presidential campaign.
Obama proposing new tax rate for millionaires
If the Obama administration had the messaging ability and the will to hammer the GOP’s (inevitable) refusal to implement the new rate all the way until November of 2012, I’d be more impressed. I really can’t see Obama effectively using this to shred the GOP for its class warfare on behalf of the wealthy; this is more than likely a bargaining chip meant to be discarded during negotiations with the Super Committee.
