Democrats, particularly a campaign mode Obama, are calling for a Buffet Rule to make sure the rich pay their fair share. This is under the assumption that the rich pay less taxes than the working class. An example given of this is Buffet's secretary pays more in taxes than Buffet does.
Yet the effective federal income taxes on those making a million or more is 30%, while those making $50,000 a year is only 3.2%. The rich, then, pay way more in taxes.
The group Obama and the democrats are targeting are the 10 percent of the very rich who don't make their money by working the way you or I do, they make their money by investing; they make long term investments. They make most of their income from capital gains.
Yet long term investments are taxed at a low rate of 15% for a reason: to encourage savings and investment. This is what makes our economy tick.
It would be foolish for Obama to raise the effective income tax on rich to higher than 30%, and it would be also foolish to get rid of loopholes (although I don't think that would be a bad idea) just to make sure that richest 10 percent pay their "fair share."
It would be foolish because doing so wouldn't effect those richest 10%, or if it did it would be by an insignificant margin. The only way to make the richest 10 percent pay their "fair share" would be to raise capital gains taxes and other investment taxes, something most politicians don't want to do.
Regardless, the Buffet Rule amounts to no more than a gimmick that wouldn't amount to more revenue to the government, and it wouldn't amount to money to put down on the national debt. It's nothing more than a gimmick. For further proof on that, just check out my post on why raising taxes on the rich is a bad idea. Besides, there's no way it would pass Congress or even the Senate for that matter.
In a free market system, the market continues to improve by people saving and investing. If you raised the capital gains tax, you would provide a disincentive to save and invest. For this reason, the entire idea of a Buffet rule plays on a false premise. It's a lie..
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