"Buffet Rule"

Republicans are not happy with Obama’s new Buffet Rule. They have been calling it “class Warfare.” As part of Obama’s speech on long-term deficit reduction Obama will propose a tax on millionaires. Using Warren buffet’s name (one of the richest men in the world) for a new tax law, the Buffet Rule would make any American making more than a million dollars a year pay at least the middle class tax rate. For years now Buffet has been saying the rich should pay more in taxes. Buffet says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. This may be true but the reason is because people who make salaries pay a different tax rate than those who make their money from investing like Buffet. He has said that people like himself should be paying a lot more in taxes and that the country “should stop coddling billionaires.” The president has been taking advantage of that position to support his argument that the rich need to pay more. Apparently Buffet’s secretary who made $60,000 paid 29 percent in taxes. Buffet who made $46 million paid 17 percent in taxes, about $8 million. However if the Buffet Rule was in effect and Buffet paid the middle class tax rate of 29 percent then he would owe another $5.5 million in taxes.

Obama has also long argued for the rich to pay more taxes. Many Americans support this effort so it is no surprise that this new rule is coming up around re-election time. It seems like Obama is using this law to get sympathy from voters. Most people are not millionaires so to many people, it seems fair to tax them more. This millionaire’s tax is supposed to aid in the economy. Democrat, Senator Richard Durbin, said on CNN that he thinks the plan is a good one, and argues that the Republicans’ alternative is just “do nothing and protect the millionaires.”  However most republicans beg to differ. “Class warfare will simply divide this country more. It will attack job creators, divide people and it doesn’t grow the economy,” Rep. Paul Ryan said on FOX News Sunday. “Class warfare may make for really good politics, but it makes for rotten economics.” These people the Obama Administration wants to tax are the ones who are investing in the market and we need people to continue investing if we want the economy to get better. If the “rich” start paying more then they will be cutting back in their business, meaning people would be getting laid off. The country needs business owners and investors to create jobs. A change in the tax rate may not affect someone like Warren Buffet that much but he is a rare kind of “rich.” Not many people have money like he does. He is a billionaire not a millionaire. If he feels he doesn’t need all that money than he should feel free to give it away.