Sen. Whitehouse To Introduce ‘Buffett Rule’ Bill To Raise Taxes On Millionaires
President Obama renewed his call for raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans to help reduce the deficit during his State of the Union speech, a proposal that became known in 2011 as the Buffett Rule after Obama mentioned that Warren Buffett paid a lower tax rate than his secretary last year.
Obamas State of the Union speech offered the first concrete details about the oft-mentioned idea, as he called for a 30 percent minimum tax rate for millionaires. And according to the Washington Posts Greg Sargent, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will introduce a bill this week that could make the Buffett Rule law:
Today, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse will unveil a new proposal first reported on this blog to bring the tax rate of millionaires paying less than middle class taxpayers up to 30 percent. While we dont know if the Dem leadership will act on this particular proposal, the Buffett Rule will get some sort of Senate vote. Republicans are all but certain to oppose it, perhaps unanimously.
Whitehouse told reporters today that he plans to introduce the bill Wednesday, after it is scored by the Joint Committee on Taxation. As Sargent noted, Senate Republicans are likely to rule out the proposal unanimously. Republicans have, indeed, gone a long way to protect the low tax rates of the wealthiest Americans. They insisted on a one-year extension of the budget-busting high-end Bush tax cuts in December 2010 and their intransigence on taxes repeatedly took the government to the brink of shutdown and default in 2011, even costing the U.S. its first credit downgrade.
More here:
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/30/414363/sen-whitehouse-to-introduce-buffett-rule-bill-to-raise-taxes-on-millionaires/
Billionaire Bill Gates Calls For Increasing Taxes On The Rich: Thats Just Justice
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/01/25/411283/bill-gates-taxes-justice/
In an interview with the BBC, Gates noted taxes are going to have to go up and thus hed prefer that they go up more on the rich than everyone else. There needs to be a sense of shared sacrifice, he said, adding, right now, I dont feel like people like myself are paying as much as we should