Though the “Buffett Rule” was voted down in Congress April 16, President Barack Obama said he would push for the plan on the campaign trail — an effort to which several democratic Southeast Ohio officials have contributed.
On April 13, Athens Mayor Paul Wiehl, City Auditor Kathy Hecht and City Treasurer Mary Ann McClure signed a letter to U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, R-OH, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-KY, asking them to vote in favor of legislation that would set a minimum tax for households earning more than $1 million annually.
Officials from Ross, Scioto and Washington counties also signed the letter.
The rule would have raised the minimum tax for households that make $1 million or more annually to 30 percent. It is named after a statement that billionaire Warren Buffett once made about paying a lower tax rate than his secretary.
Before the vote, neither Portman nor McConnell had voiced support for the rule.
“Even with an equitable distribution (of the money made from the Buffett Rule), we would benefit from this,” Hecht said. “You can’t just keep cutting things. It has to come from both ends; you have to raise revenue too.”
The rule has become a talking point for Obama as he continues on his “Obama for America” campaign for re-election this November.
“Ending tax giveaways to individuals like Warren Buffett and Bill Gates — people who neither wanted nor asked for them — will allow the federal government to reinvest in our future and continue to grow our economy,” said a statement from Obama for America.
The issue of higher-income Americans paying into lower tax brackets is not something that is common among other levels of income, such as the middle class.
Some of “the very wealthiest American households,” according to the White House’s website, are paying one of the lowest tax rates in 50 years — some pay only half of the federal income tax that top income earners paid in 1960.
The average tax rate for middle-class families has barely budged, according to the site, which states that the middle 20 percent of households paid 14 percent of its income in 1960 and 16 percent in 2010.
“As a billionaire, (Buffett) pays less than his secretary: He pays 15 percent; she pays 27 percent. I don’t think it’s going to go anywhere; the senate has already shot it down,” said Athens City Councilman Jeff Risner, D-2nd Ward. “As a symbolic gesture, it’s certainly worth the effort.”
— Joshua Jamerson contributed to this article
ld311710@ohiou.edu
