Obama: Millionaires should pay at least 30 percent in taxes

[kpete]

Obama: Millionaires should pay at least 30 percent in taxes

People earning over $1 million per year should pay an effective tax rate of no less than 30 percent, President Obama said in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

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"Tax reform should follow the Buffett rule: If you make more than $1 million a year, you should not pay less than 30 percent in taxes," Obama said.

The president also said that Americans earning over $250,000 per year should also no longer be able to claim special tax breaks or deductions; he said households earning under $250,000 shouldn't face a tax increase.

"You can call this class warfare all you want," Obama said. "But asking a billionaire to pay at least as much as his secretary in taxes? Most Americans would call that common sense."


MORE:
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10229245-obama-millionaires-should-pay-at-least-30-percent-in-taxes

FULL TRANSCRIPT:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/24/politics/sotu-transcript/index.html

[DJ13]

1. I wish politicians would seperate the income tax from capital gains

The millionaires dont make most of their income from wages, they make it in capital gains.

We could tax their wages at 90% and they would barely notice it if capital gains stay at the current 15%.

[alp227]

2. Uhh please don't link to Foxnews.com,

of course you can access the speech in full in many other sites including whitehouse.gov...ok it's not there yet but here's cnn.com.

[kpete]

3. thanks alp227

what was i thinking...

peace, kpete

[alp227]

4. Broader article by Wash. Post

In State of the Union address, Obama puts focus on economic inequality

In Washington, President Obama harnessed one of the grand symbols of his office — a prime-time State of the Union speech — to present himself to voters as a champion for middle-class families struggling to get by and declare that “we’ve come too far to turn back now.”

In addition to the prospect of a protracted GOP nomination fight, Obama has been boosted as the jobless rate has ticked down in recent months. And a new Washington Post-ABC News poll found independent voters quickly souring on Romney, whose strength with that group not long ago made him the opponent that many Democrats feared most.

The president’s address Tuesday served far more as a roadmap for how Obama as a reelection candidate intends to capi­tal­ize on his built-in advantages than as a governing blueprint for the next year.

He sprinkled his remarks with anecdotes and shout-outs to key cities in election battlegrounds, from Raleigh to Pittsburgh and Milwaukee to Cleveland. He hit back against GOP attacks on an array of foreign and domestic policy areas — declaring victory on the auto bailout and his overhauls of health care and Wall Street regulations.

[sarcasmo]

5. It should be 35 percent, is 35 the percent you

get taken from you're paycheck?

[jmowreader]

6. Millionaires shouldn't be able to use the capital gains tax rate except in special circumstances

The capital gains tax rate was intended to encourage people to invest in a corporation and stay in the investment long-term.

As any long-term DUer knows (I'm certain there are people who have been here only a couple weeks and haven't gained the benefit of a DU education, and I welcome all of you), the capital gains tax rate has become the "millionaire's rate"--if you make enough money you can ask to be paid it in any currency you want, and they like currencies such as incentive stock options that ultimately are taxed as capital gains.

So! I would say that allowing anyone who reports over $1 million on Line 22 (total income) of his or her 1040 to only claim the capital gains tax rate on the sale of stock purchased in Initial Public Offerings or other issues of stock directly from the corporation, and requiring them to pay the full "ordinary" rate on the sale of stock purchased from other sources, would work.

The right-wingers defend the capital gains rate thusly: when an investor buys stock, the company uses the investment to hire people, build factories and distribution centers, buy equipment and improve the quality of life for us all. Now, that's a nice almost-leftist argument and it'd be great if it was true, but in a lot of cases when an investor buys stock, he buys it from a broker who bought it from another investor. This makes it "used" stock. Buying used stock is like buying a used car: none of the money used to buy it goes to the company whose name is on the item. As such, buying a used block of stock will not hire anyone, build a new factory or improve the standard of life of anyone except the person you bought it from. So...why encourage this by letting them pay taxes at less than half the going rate on the profits?

[Bandit]

7. Big difference between a millionaire and someone "earning" over a million a year.

There are plenty of millionaires that only earn a couple of hundred thousand annually. Not sure what qualifies someone to be a millionaire these days anyway.. A lot of people own property worth a million dollars or more but have very little actual cash on hand..

[Snake Alchemist]

8. And there is the rub. Unless we figure out a way to tax wealth INSTEAD of income

this means nothing.

[Bandit]

9. It's called "Property Tax"

Municipalities already do just that....

[Snake Alchemist]

10. Doesn't affect the amount of money in the bank.

Right now someone can just sit on million of dollars and live high on the hog on interest alone. We need to find a way to tax that kind of wealth.

[Spoonman]

13. Interest alone?

You realize the best interset rate you can get on money right now is less than 2%.

$3 million will only gross $60,000 per year.
(Interest income is taxed the same as earned income)

[Chemical Bill]

11. Make it 70% and you have a deal. n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

12. **Sigh** the good old days...