Moneybags Mitt’s Millions Maintained
17 Apr 2012
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It seems that while I was dutifully sending off my tax returns last week, millionaires were dispatching lobbyists to Capitol Hill to nail down the votes needed to kill the Buffet Rule.
The Buffet Rule was actually a pretty minor change to the tax code. It would have only raised the tax rate of millionaires to the same rate of many middle-income workers. It didn’t go after the offshore accounts that millionaires often use to hide their assets from the IRS. It didn’t even go after the dozen-or-so legal tax loopholes and shelters that America’s wealthiest people use to avoid contributing to the tax base of our nation.
Even though the scope of the Buffet Rule was limited, 72% of Americans supported it because we recognized that it was an important first step towards making our tax system a little fairer. The Buffet Rule just tried to prevent the rich from continuing to use economic and tax policies for their sole benefit. It was part of a much larger struggle to close the divide between two economic realities in America; where the 1% pockets 93% of the economic gains created by the “recovery” that we keep hearing about on Wall Street, while on Main Streets everywhere 30% of Americans are poor or near poor.
Last night, all but one of the Republican Senators ignored the public support of nearly three-out-of-four Americans and instead catered to the three-out-of-300 Americans who are millionaires. Their vote to kill the Buffet Rule wasn’t due to how convincing the conservative talking points were or the fact that 67% of all Senators are millionaires themselves. It was party politics plain and simple; and an important preview of who Mitt Romney – with his Swiss bank account and 14% tax rate – and his party would represent in 2013.
Now that “Moneybags Mitt” has basically been anointed the leader of his party, take a look at how his tax rate stacked up against yours.
And be sure to share this thank you card for Mitt Romney for all the money he keeps for himself, instead of contributing to America like the rest of us.
The Buffet Rule was actually a pretty minor change to the tax code. It would have only raised the tax rate of millionaires to the same rate of many middle-income workers. It didn’t go after the offshore accounts that millionaires often use to hide their assets from the IRS. It didn’t even go after the dozen-or-so legal tax loopholes and shelters that America’s wealthiest people use to avoid contributing to the tax base of our nation.
Even though the scope of the Buffet Rule was limited, 72% of Americans supported it because we recognized that it was an important first step towards making our tax system a little fairer. The Buffet Rule just tried to prevent the rich from continuing to use economic and tax policies for their sole benefit. It was part of a much larger struggle to close the divide between two economic realities in America; where the 1% pockets 93% of the economic gains created by the “recovery” that we keep hearing about on Wall Street, while on Main Streets everywhere 30% of Americans are poor or near poor.
Last night, all but one of the Republican Senators ignored the public support of nearly three-out-of-four Americans and instead catered to the three-out-of-300 Americans who are millionaires. Their vote to kill the Buffet Rule wasn’t due to how convincing the conservative talking points were or the fact that 67% of all Senators are millionaires themselves. It was party politics plain and simple; and an important preview of who Mitt Romney – with his Swiss bank account and 14% tax rate – and his party would represent in 2013.
Now that “Moneybags Mitt” has basically been anointed the leader of his party, take a look at how his tax rate stacked up against yours.
And be sure to share this thank you card for Mitt Romney for all the money he keeps for himself, instead of contributing to America like the rest of us.
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