Obama introduces “Buffet Rule”
So Warren Buffet, the third richest man in the world, is getting his wish. President Obama is prepared to introduce what the media is calling “The Buffet Rule” – an increase in taxes on millionaires and billionaires. Fox News writes;
The measure would be in addition to $447 billion in new tax revenue that Obama is seeking to pay for his short-term spending and tax cutting plan to jump start the economy.
Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner said Thursday he would oppose tax increases to reduce the deficit. Boehner has urged Congress’ deficit “supercommittee” to lay the groundwork for a broad overhaul of the U.S. tax code.
Of course, Buffet is being disingenuous about the way the new tax will apply to him. That net worth of his, which was about $47 billion last year, won’t get taxed since we’re talking about income tax, not a tax on net worth. All Buffet has to do is make less money on paper to avoid the new tax, and if his conscience is bothering him, he’d have already checked the box to send in extra money to assuage his guilt.
The only thing this does is make the billionaire club more exclusive since fewer people will be able to claw their way through the door since they’re forfeiting their earnings to the government. Obama only helped Buffet secure his place in the crowd.
Category: Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Taxes
I don’t know how much longer we will allow the government to tax achievement. This ill thought out process is what bred all the damned loopholes anyway. If we were taxed on consumption rather than production, we could pay our taxes without loopholes, and the government would take in more money, from a much more equal collection. There is nothing wrong with someone busting their ass to make it in this country, but the taxers see them as nearly criminal.
Tax the non-productive slugs. Support those who hire, who feed families so that the taxpayer needn’t buy their foodstamps, welfare, etc.
This nutty argument seems to come up too often to be anything other than a destraction. (Wonder what the left hand is doing while they have our attention on the right hand.)
I’m still hung up on the inability of those who think they should be sending more $$ to DC to write a chick for whatever else they think they “owe!”
What? You say they are just typical lefties who feel better if they talk about it a lot, then exempt themselves from whatever they force others to do?? Well, yeah, there is that.
I see that the Washington Times caught up with the mrs. Imam’s murmurings regarding the flag (‘All this just for a flag?’). There is also an excellent piece on the imam’s shredding of the Constitution. As for Buffett, I like some of his music but not his politics so I don’t listen to him anymore. (Huh? What’s that? Oh. Well, I don’t like the one-T Buffet either.)
Once again, Buffet and the other liberals want to play class warfare, knowing full well it’s not a tax on wealth, it’s a tax on INCOME, meaning their little rice bowl is protected.
A “Buffet Tax” won’t affect me because I always order ala Carte, and never do the Buffet thing.
Buffet owes roughly $1Bn in taxes.
Maybe he’d feel better if he paid what he owes, instead of increasing what everyone else owes.
@2-17AirCav – “Imam”
Can I safely assume that you still lack the courage of your convictions to explain your little pet names when asked?
2-17AirCav: Warren Buffet doesn’t make music. I think you’re thinking of Jimmy Buffet–Cheeseburger in Paradise and all that.
Warren Buffet complained that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary. How in the world is that possible? He obviously pays at the highest rate.
Unless, of course, he makes generous use of the various tax loopholes. That shouldn’t be too hard, the IRS code is full of them. Just hire an accountant to arrange your assets in the correct way, sheltered in all the right places, and his effective tax rate goes down.
Wait a second…if Mr. Buffet really wanted to pay more in taxes he could just stop doing that! That’s right, just fire the accountants and pay the rate he’s supposed to pay.
And then he could leave the rest of us alone. But obviously, paying higher taxes is not his wish. Making other people pay higher taxes is.
For more on whining millionaires who shelter their cash from the tax man and then complain that their taxes are too low, see:
Chomsky, Noam
–and–
Clinton, B.J.
So, would you guys be okay with a tax on wealth? Like if you’re worth more that 10 million dollars you pay a 3% tax on that wealth every year?
Income taxes are a bummer for everyone but how do you feel about a net worth tax?