Remember the Buffett Tax, part of President Obama's $477 billion jobs bill? Now there is a Republican version that allows Americans to donate to the Treasury when they file their tax returns. The legislation was introduced by Sen. John Thune and Rep. John Scalise.
Republican lawmakers have introduced their own “Buffett Rule” that would allow billionaire investors like Warren Buffett who say they’re not paying enough taxes to voluntarily give more money to the federal government.
Under the legislation, authored by Sen. John Thune of South Dakota and Rep. John Scalise of Louisiana, taxpayers can donate at least a $1 to the Treasury fund for deficit reduction when they file their federal income tax returns starting next year.
“If individuals like Warren Buffett or President Obama are inclined to donate their own personal money toward paying down the federal government’s debt, they ought to have that right to do so voluntarily,” Thune said. “This bill would make it easier for those wealthy individuals who feel they are currently under-taxed to pay more to the U.S. Treasury above and beyond their current obligations, without raising taxes on America’s job creators.”
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I can't wait to see how many Patriotic Millionaires decide to partake. Whenever one of them talked about how they should be forced to pay more, conservatives replied that they were more than welcome to-but why foist increases on those with less disposable income? Now it turns out that the same folks (ahem, Warren Buffett, George Kaiser) have been dodging taxes and evading them for quite some time. With this new proposal, it looks like they will either have to pay up or shut up.
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