What is the Buffett Rule?
President Obama has proposed the Buffett Rule. It is a simple principle: Millionaires and billionaires shouldn’t pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families do.
Why is the Buffett Rule necessary?
It’s a simple point of tax fairness:
␣␣ The average tax rate paid by the wealthiest Americans has fallen to nearly its lowest rate in 50 years.
␣␣ The 400 richest Americans (all making more than $110 million per year) paid only 18 percent of their income in income taxes in 2008. That is a significantly lower rate than that paid by a middle-class head of house- hold making $47,000 per year.
␣␣ Since 1979, the average after-tax income of the very wealthiest Americans has risen almost 300% while middle-class incomes have risen just 40 percent.
␣␣ Many of the richest Americans use tax loopholes to pay even lower taxes, or no taxes at all. In 2009, 22,000 households making more than $1 million annually paid less than 15 percent of their income in taxes, and 1,470 managed to pay no federal income taxes.
The Buffett Rule would ensure that millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share.
Contact Your Senator to Support the Buffett Rule
“We can either settle for an economy where a few people do really well and everyone else struggles to get by, or we can build an economy where hard work pays off again— where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules. It’s up to us.”
—Barack Obama
