Buffett Rule Tax Increase Would Not Put a Dent In U.S. Debt and Deficits
A currently debated idea of the incumbent President of the United States of America is to impose a 30% income tax on all income of individuals with $1 million or more of taxable income in a year. This proposal, known as “the Buffett Rule,” is based on ideas espoused by multi-billionaire Warren Buffett, whose proposal was previously described in an entry in this blog dated August 25, 2011.
According to a recent analysis of “. . . data from the Treasury Department and the [U.S. Congress] Joint Economic Committee (JEC) Americans with an adjusted gross income exceeding $1 million in 2009 paid an average effective income-tax rate of 24% . . . According to the JEC, the revenue raised by the Buffett Rule over an entire decade would fund just 23 days of Social Security benefits. Alternatively, you could defend the nation for 25 days. Ten years of the Buffett Rule would pay for what the U.S. borrows every 17 days or what Washington spends every 4-1/2 days. In other words, it would not even put a dent in our deficits and debt.”
Quotation from “The ‘Buffett Rule’ Should Be Known As The ‘Buffett Ruse,’” by Rep. Chuck Fleischmann, Op-Ed, Investor’s Business Daily, May 12, 2012.