Reagan Supported the Buffet Rule

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   Sooner28posted 12 years ago

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRuWMoEW … e=youtu.be
   
   Why has the Republican party abandoned its alleged leader?

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      steveamyposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      because they first embraced the wacko extremist religious right  and subsequently embraced the wacko extremist Tea Party.  Two major steps on this road were Nixon's Southern Strategy followed by the machinations of Lee  Atwater....

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      kerrygposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Reagan did a lot of bad stuff in his 8 years, but he looks sane and responsible compared to the current crop of Republicans!

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   lovemychrisposted 12 years ago

   Comment from a person on an article:
   
   "The rich have been able to effectively stop tax increases through the power of lobbyists. This is much more powerful than mere voters. I find it hard to believe that you've paid no taxes for years. What I do know is that as a high middle class citizen my tax rate at 350k of income is much higher than someone making 1 million. I don't mind paying a higher rate than you. It is fair and is good for the economy. But I have a problem with paying twice the rate of someone who makes over 1 million dollars a year. That is not right, hurts the economy and is the reason why we have such deficits.
   
   If cutting taxes for the rich helped, the economy should be booming because of the Bush tax cuts. It isn't."

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   Eric Newlandposted 12 years ago

   I'm just leery of any kind of tax that discourages investment. A lot of the wealthy pay low taxes because of the cap on taxing capital gains. Remove that cap or implement a "Robin Hood" tax and the risk/benefit ratio of any investment automatically gets worse. This means less investment overall.
   
   In the end I see that becoming a problem for entrepreneurs and innovators who need outside investors to get startup companies off the ground. It hurts the little guy. With other types of income I see less of a problem with raising tax rates.
   
   Those who complain that the rich aren't helping to create new jobs ought not to put obstacles in the way of the clearest exception to that rule.

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      lovemychrisposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      They got 3 tax cuts already!! Where are the investments in America?
      
      OBVIOUSLY, that canard is just that...a canard to make them richer and richer..the heck with America.
      
      And what kind of patriotic American keeps their money in a Swiss bank to avoid taxes???

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         Eric Newlandposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Long story short, if the 1% were less willing to invest in small business my 59 middle-class coworkers and I would probably be unemployed right now. Sorry if that skews my sympathies somewhat.

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            lovemychrisposted 12 years agoin reply to this

            If they hadn't taken the jobs overseas for profit, millions more would be in your shoes.
            
            That skews mine.

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      kerrygposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Once upon a time, I would have been sympathetic to this argument, but with the shenanigans Wall Street has been up over the last 10 or 15 years, I really question it. Too much investment activity on Wall Street currently not only does not benefit the US economy by supporting businesses that create jobs, it actively undermines it. The US government should not be promoting the kind of irresponsible investments that led to the financial crisis by rewarding them with lower tax rates than income earned through productive work.

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   Eric Newlandposted 12 years ago

   It might be interesting to see a variation on this rule that provided special rates for capital gains income from small/startup business investment.

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   lovemychrisposted 12 years ago

   I do believe Obama's plan includes a tax break for small start-up businesses.
   And tax breaks for those hiring veterans.

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   Sooner28posted 12 years ago

   It's very odd to me that a billionaire would pay less in taxes than his secretary!  Of course, the libertarian retort is simply that all people's taxes should be drastically lowered.  Cut the secretaries and the millionaire's taxes, and everyone will be happy. The world will be a utopia.
   
   For those of us who are not market fundamentalists (and this even includes right-wing economists), the government does have a role to play with negative externalities and providing public goods (like electricity).  Businesses also need educated workers in order to be productive.  I also happen to believe that our air and water should not be polluted with impunity, and that will require money to stop. 
   
   But...that's just me.

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