Billionaire investor Warren Buffet has long been outspoken in his belief that the rich in American need to pay their fair share in the way of taxes. While a majority of Americans would agree with Buffet, it’s not something that many of our leaders in Washington seem willing to bring up, let alone champion. As we’re seeing play out right now with regard to the Bush tax cuts for the super-wealthy, which are set to expire at the end of the year, very few of our leaders seem willing to say the obvious, which is that we cannot afford them. (Furthermore, they did not spur the economy forward, as Bush had told us that they would.) Instead, we’re hearing signals from the White House that they might be willing to consider a compromise of some sort, like extending the tax breaks for the wealthy another two years. If Obama doesn’t, we’re told, he runs the risk of offending the Republicans, who, in retribution, likely wouldn’t allow for middle class tax relief legislation to move forward. (For all their talk of how important it is for us to cut our deficit, the Republican members of Congress seem a lot more concerned about preserving tax breaks for the wealthy. But, I guess that makes sense, as they’re the ones who fund political campaigns and host fundraisers.)
But, in spite of this lock-step march toward Plutocracy, Buffet, and other high net worth individuals, like Bill Gates Sr., keep pushing back – trying to find a ways, whether it be through the reinstatement of the estate tax, or the repeal of the Bush tax cuts, to keep a level American playing field. And, the good news is, they’re attracting other millionaires to their cause.
A few days ago, an organization calling itself Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength announced its existence. The organization’s 40-some members, on their website, made the following suggestion to Obama.
You’ll notice that they moved the income threshold from $250,000 per year to $1,000,000, but the important thing, at least to me, is that wealthy Americans are getting involved in the conversation, admitting that they need to do more, and framing the debate in terms of patriotism. I’d have to look at the numbers and see what moving the bar from $250,000 to $1,000,000 would mean in terms of lost revenue, but, given the choice between extending the tax cut for everyone, and extending it for just those making under one million dollars a year, I’d rather go with the latter. Hopefully, however, we can do a better job of compromising, and get it closer to $500,000. (note: over 375,000 Americans make over $1,000,000 annually.)
As for Buffet, he’s hitting the press this week. Here he is with Christiane Amanpour.
And, here’s a bit of the transcript from Talking Points Memo:
…”If anything, taxes for the lower and middle class and maybe even the upper middle class should even probably be cut further,” Buffett told ABC News in an interview set to air later this week. “But I think that people at the high end — people like myself — should be paying a lot more in taxes. We have it better than we’ve ever had it.”
“The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on,” Buffett said in the clip from ABC News’ “This Week with Christiane Amanpour.”
So, is Buffet right – are you beginning to catch on?
