President Obama, yesterday:
Now, the Republicans, when I talked about this earlier in the week, they said, well, this is class warfare. You know what, if asking a billionaire to pay their fair share of taxes, to pay the same tax rate as a plumber or a teacher is class warfare, then you know what, I’m a warrior for the middle class. (Applause.) I’m happy to fight for the middle class.
“Pay the same rate” — so now Obama supports a flat tax?
Take a look at the tax brackets. Plumbers or teachers who make between $34,901 and $84,500 pay a top federal tax rate of $4,750 plus 25 percent of the amount over $34,500.
Billionaires pay a top income tax rate of $110,016.50 plus 35 percent on all income they make above $379,150.
[These numbers are for single filers; the numbers are slightly different but roughly proportional for married filing jointly.]
In the world view of Obama, Elizabeth Warren, and their ilk, the current top tax rate of 35 percent represents absolute unfairness and is the root of all of our debt and economic problems. But the Clinton-era tax rate of 39.6 percent represents absolute fairness.
Who knew the distance between today’s injustice and economic nirvana was 4.6 percent?
Obviously President Obama is referring to the effective tax rate and your referring to the tax rate schedule. Apples and oranges, hence the confusion. Cordially, Bill
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseLook, while I think the whole 'fairness' rhetoric is ridiculous, I think it's been very clear that we've been talking about effective tax rates - that is, the actual percentage of money paid to the government vs. money brought in. It's not nearly as common as Obama states, and he ignores the reasons for the disparity, but trying to pretend this is about statutory rates is foolish.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat makes you think they'd consider 39.5% to be 'fair' once they got it? The whole point is to demagogue 'the rich' in order to get elected. Therefore, nothing can ever be considered 'fair'.
Don't forget, Obama's father, whom he idolized, pushed for a 100% tax rate in Kenya.
The Left's world view is dependent on the belief that ALL of our money belongs to society as a whole, to be redistributed by liberal elites in government as they see fit.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExactly. Ron Howard (the original Opie) said just a day or so ago that when he was growing up the top tax rate was 90%, and everything was fine back then. Guess he forgets that JFK cut the rates in '62 to stimulate the economy.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseOf course, the issue is also that rich who pay a lower rate do so because they are being taxed on capital gains, which, generally speaking, is money that has already been taxed through corporate taxation and is therefore in effect taxed at a higher rate than my middle class income tax marginal rate.
Does anyone know if Obama plans to raise the capital gains rate with his jobs bill? I've been too lazy to look into myself, largely because I know the bill has no chance of passing, but does Obama plan to raise Warren Buffett's capital gains tax rate? I don't support raising capital gains taxes on anyone, but if the point is to make Warren Buffett pay higher taxes, higher income tax rates won't do it.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAt first glance I thought it said "Fiat tax". Whether it's a tax decreed by fiat, or a tax penalty for a failure to heed the individual mandate to buy a Fiat, a Fiat tax is something Obama would unquestionably support.
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