"But for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate. "
If you really want to see something get passed, you're better off putting the cutoffs at $5mil and $25mil(maybe even slightly higher). The $1mil cutoff sounds nice in a soundbite and it polls well, but it's not hard to find sympathetic faces(small businesses and large family farms) who would get caught up in that. His cutoffs would end up hurting the the "upper middle class" and the "lower rich" more than the "super rich".
And if you want "shared sacrifice", you should be talking about a consumption tax.
What this country needs most is a firm federal spending cap at 20% of GDP. There would be less opposition to raising taxes and balancing the budget if the measuring stick for spending wasn't tax revenues but the GDP.
Buffet is talking about "Taxable Income" meaning a small business or family farm would have to be making 1 Million in profits for it's owners before they would actually be effected by such an increase in rates.
Consumption tax would likely put an undue burden on the poor because where as the rich invest and save a large portion of their income the poor spend close to 100% of what they make on things like food and housing.
"Buffet is talking about "Taxable Income" meaning a small business or family farm would have to be making 1 Million in profits for it's owners before they would actually be effected by such an increase in rates."
I understand perfectly... go ahead, put the cutoff at 1Mil and you're going to lose politically.
"Consumption tax would likely put an undue burden on the poor"
I don't care... I'm mocking the idea of "shared sacrifice"... the poor pay almost no taxes.
How on earth does consumption tax have anything to do with "shared sacrifice"? Consumption tax wrecks the purchasing power of the poor (who spend pretty much 100% of their income on taxed goods) and doesn't have any effect on the purchasing power of the super rich (who typically only spend a minor portion of their income on consumer goods).
If you really want to see something get passed, you're better off putting the cutoffs at $5mil and $25mil(maybe even slightly higher). The $1mil cutoff sounds nice in a soundbite and it polls well, but it's not hard to find sympathetic faces(small businesses and large family farms) who would get caught up in that. His cutoffs would end up hurting the the "upper middle class" and the "lower rich" more than the "super rich".
And if you want "shared sacrifice", you should be talking about a consumption tax.
What this country needs most is a firm federal spending cap at 20% of GDP. There would be less opposition to raising taxes and balancing the budget if the measuring stick for spending wasn't tax revenues but the GDP.