At the risk of stifling the tax rate hysteria with facts, the Congressional Research Service did a great study on the “Buffett Rule”.
One of the key charts – with a couple of Homa Files accentuators – says that
- “Millionaires & billionaires” tax rate is – on average – 11 points higher than folks making under $100k.
- About 1 in 4 millionaires & billionaires (less than 100,000 tax payers) – those with the lowest effect tax rates – pay a lower rate than about 10% of the more than 100 million folks making under $100,000
- Applying the SOTU Buffett Rule – minimum 30% for folks making more than $1 million – would jack up taxes for about 1/2 of millionarires and billionaires.
Is jacking the rate on about 200,000 taxpayers really going to get us out of this fiscal mess we’re in?
I’m betting the under.
* * * * *
Supplementary data:
Tags: Buffett Rule, SOYU address, Taxes
January 31, 2012 at 12:41 pm |
Since we know how much wealth is concentrated in these few hands, yes, raising taxes on 200,000 extremely wealthy people can be very significant.
January 31, 2012 at 1:12 pm |
^ depends on your definition of significant.
“The nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimates that a Buffett Tax might now raise $40 billion annually. Citizens for Tax Justice, a liberal group, estimates $50 billion.” (http://wapo.st/zgdU9S)
Its not game changing policy, or even game influencing policy as far as debt reduction goes.
February 2, 2012 at 10:18 am |
What is your threshold for something “worth” doing?
$50 Billion sounds significantly better than $0 to me.
Waiting for an individual change to solve the entire problem seems like a bad idea.