Learn About The Buffett Rule

Learn About The Buffett Rule

Watch out for debate misdirection when it comes to taxes. Dr. Cornwall wants everyone to know that there will never be a tax increase on the extremely wealthy population (The Buffett Rule) that will put the tiniest dent in the tax shortfall of the United States.

So why is everyone so focused on the debate about making those who bring home over $250,000 a year pay more in taxes?

The answer is the Buffet Rule by President Obama. This Buffett Rule raises the taxes on a group of extremely wealthy people, but we hear that many of them would be glad to pay more in taxes.

We are also hearing that this group is about two percent of the population of taxpayers. In all honesty, they are about 1.8% of the population that pays taxes. They are over two and a half million people according to data provided by the IRS.

The deficit right now is $1.1 trillion. That is $440,000 for each wealthy household a year. There will not be any type of increase in taxes that can resolve this tax situation.

If you are wondering whom the two and half million super wealthy people are, according to surveys from the Spectrem Group up to twenty five percent of them are entrepreneurs. These professionals are the people we need to be expanding their businesses so that our economy can get better.

So why are political figures trying to soak the rich?

President Barack Obama and Warren Buffett in t...
President Barack Obama and Warren Buffett in the Oval Office, July 14, 2010. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I am a believer that this is just a set up for what we can expect in our future. This is just a way to get started on the real tax increase so that the masses will be more open to it.

There have been many talks about using a value added tax system for our tax burdens right now so that we can fund our federal government. It is surprising how little attention the press is paying to the VAT tax. What we are mostly hearing about is in regards to taxing the very wealthy.

The VAT tax has not been a favorite choice for Democrats because of it being such a flat tax. This European method is going to need to be covered if they decide to add it America’s tax system.

In the next few months, this is what I see happening…

There will be an agreement that the top marginal rates will have to be increased to at least where they were before the Bush tax cuts. This will be the Democratic cover.

After that, the VAT tax will be implemented. Republicans will be able to say that even if they did not want to raise our taxes, we should be happy that they did so by implementing a flatter tax system instead of huge increases in income tax rates.

When this happens, America will be facing an expanding government that has a new tax program for politicians to use however they see fit.

Taxes And The Proposed Budget

Obama’s 2013 Budget Estimates and Tax Changes

President Obama has plans to make changes in the tax code to raise funds for his 2013 budget to jump start the U.S. hiring.

His proposals are only a wish list to congress, which is not required to act on any of them. However, some of these proposals have already been acted on in the recent years.

The United States Tax code, which hasn’t been overhauled in a quarter century, is riddled with special deductions that favor select groups. While major changes in the tax code during an election year is unlikely, analysts are of the opinion that deficits in 2012 taxes may ignite debates in 2013.

The following are the proposed changes and budget estimates.

INDIVIDUAL TAXES

  • TAX CUTS. Workers are expected to pay lower payroll taxes through 2012.
  • BUSH TAX CUTS. Tax cuts for households earning more than 250 thousand dollars per year will not be available in 2013.

The issue must be resolved before the end of the year, or every taxpayer will be required to pay more taxes.

  • CARRIED INTEREST. Private equity managers and other wealthy people will be forced to pay a tax rate of 35 percent from the current 15 percent on capital gains.
  • BUFFET RULE. The buffet rule will be put into action. The rule states that every taxpayer who earns more than a million dollars per year should pay a minimum of 30 percent tax rate on all their incomes.
  • ITEMIZED DEDUCTIONS CAP. Exemptions for taxpayers who earn more than 200 thousand dollars will be removed.

  • CORPORATE TAXES

    • THE PROPOSED CORPORATE TAX RATE. The Obama administration is expected to lower the corporate tax rate from the current 35 percent to 20 percent.

    There are many other proposals that have elicited different remarks from people all over the country. Other changes are meant to simplify the process of tax return filing by U.S. taxpayers.

    Republicans Or Taxes: Which One Will Budge?

    Will Republicans ever give us some breathing room on 2011 taxes?

    The White House is desperately trying to persuade liberals that the debt ceiling deal is getting a horrible reputation under false pretenses.  This is quite understandable because there are always two sides to a coin, so to speak.  As a matter of fact, upon closer inspection of this deal, there may be some favorable attributes associated with it.

    In general, there is a commission of twelve “Super Congress” members – a total of 3 from each respective chamber and party.  The liberals are addicted to criticizing their purpose to seal the $1.5 trillion second phase of cuts by Thanksgiving, which was bound to force some mandatory increases of revenue.  Even though the Bush tax cuts are now out of the picture, a bounty of corporate welfare programs, subsidies and other loopholes are currently available.  It’s definitely not easy to imagine a minimum of one Republican voting to keep corporate jet funding and then slash $500 billion from our country’s defense budget, despite the lack of offset revenues.  It all comes down to this question:  Are the Republicans more fearful of the joint chiefs or Grover Norquist?  If the Democrats were betting, then their money would be on the joint chiefs.

    Let’s assume the debt ceiling deal is approved today:  in that case, the joint House/Senate committee has to recommend a brand new set of deficit reduction steps, which will provide the perfect venue for Democrats to seek after a more “balanced” approach.  This translates into revenue increases and spending cuts.  Because of the deal’s structure, if Congress refuses to accept its blueprint or the committee deadlocks, then automatic cuts will be triggered across the board – including a Defense spending reduction.  This will probably force the Pentagon-friendly Republicans to take demands for revenue adjustments from the Democrats a bit more seriously.

    However, I wouldn’t fall for this just yet.  As usual, the primary conflict concerns the Tea Party, with its stubborn anti-anything-having-remotely-to-do-with-tax-increases orthodoxy.  This notion is shared by countless Republican House members, animating the GOP’s base, including its most influential commentators.  Speaker John Boehner had these members in mind while backing out of the major bargain discussions with President Obama.  This just goes to show that even the slightest revenue increases amidst substantial spending and entitlement cuts would prove unacceptable to the GOP conference.  These also happened to be the most difficult (or in some cases impossible) ones to win over as he pedaled his own second debt ceiling proposal last week.

    In general, it’s important to remember that as far as these Republicans are concerned, defense spending isn’t nearly as sacred to them as it has been to GOP leaders, historically.  Last month for example, Mark Meckler, national leader of the Tea Party Patriots, said to Politico:

    “Everything is on the table.  I have yet to hear anyone say, ‘We can’t tackle defense spending,’ or any other topic.
    …Any tea partier who says something else lacks honor.”

    In the same article, Georgia Representative Paul Broun, possibly the most influential Tea Party advocate of Congress, suggested he wouldn’t be opposed to defense cuts, arguing that the USA “cannot be a protector of the whole world.  We cannot do that any longer.  We don’t have the money to do it anyway.”  Incidentally, Republican Broun declined to vote with Boehner and the GOP regarding last week’s debt ceiling.  Therefore, it seems that Broun wouldn’t object to avoiding any type of tax increase if the price involved a cut in Pentagon spending.

    I’m still not sure how prevalent Broun’s view is among his GOP supporters.  However, if a significant number of Republicans swing this way, it would be difficult to imagine the revenues changing under the deficit reduction committee.  If pushing for the acceptance of a tax increase plan, Boehner would still be alienating dozens of believers that already have a suspicious eye on him.

    Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that there aren’t Republicans who think that the Defense budget is a hefty matter.  Buck McKeon, California’s Armed Services Committee chairman, has been working all year to safeguard the military from any budget cuts.  But McKeon, who has been in the House for 2 decades, is not the one that Republican Boehner should be worried about:  it’s the Tea Party purists that require attention.

    It’s also important to recall that another comparable commission was created under President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War with similar policies.  If Congress ignored it or the panel came to a deadlock, the Defense budget took a severe beating.  Yet, even back in those times when a strong national defense was most likely the focal point of settlement for all Republicans, both Reagan and the GOP decided to sign off on a more “balanced” plan, complete with Defense reductions.

    If the Republicans gave in on Defense spending back then, it’s tough to imagine that they won’t do it again today, especially if the alternative is to pick a fight with the unwavering anti-tax Tea Party zealots.  Therefore, no matter what the White House says, I doubt that this new deficit reduction committee will accomplish what every other plan of action has failed to do thus far.  As far as increased revenues are concerned, the best bet lies towards the end of 2012, which marks the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.  Also, this depends upon whether or not the Democrats want to push a rate hike by doing nothing at all.