Sunday, April 15, 2012

Rick Santelli Nails It Again.



The Buffett rule itself may die, but the name will live on as a metaphor for pointless public policy....

Rick Santelli - Taxing the Rich will not Offset the Deficit - Hillbuzz

Obama's Buffett Rule campaign hits dead end - Byron York/Washington Examiner
At times it seems President Obama believes the Buffett Rule -- his proposal that Americans making more than $1 million a year pay at least 30 percent in federal income taxes -- is the only solution needed to solve the nation's staggering fiscal crisis. But with a Senate vote coming Monday in which the measure faces united Republican opposition -- plus no future in the House -- this week is likely to mark the end of the Buffett Rule as a major part of the Obama agenda. That's not just because of the political opposition; just as important, the Buffett Rule is running into a dead end because a significant part of the political class in Washington has finally admitted the idea is little more than a gimmick that would do nothing to fix the country's problems.

Of course, conservatives and Republicans have thought that all along. But in recent days, the trouble for Obama has been far broader, as commentators and politicians -- faced with nonpartisan estimates that enacting the Buffett Rule would raise about $4.7 billion in revenue per year, less than a drop in the bucket of a $1 trillion-plus annual deficit -- admitted that there's just not much there....

By the end of the week, the Buffett Rule initiative had been overtaken by the flap over Hilary Rosen and her remarks about Ann Romney. But even without the new distraction, the Buffett Rule was in serious trouble. It wasn't going to pass Congress, no matter what happens in the Senate, but by a combination of the president overplaying his hand and the Washington commentariat gradually discovering the essential emptiness of the Buffett idea, what once seemed like a winner for the Obama campaign became an idea that few were taking seriously any more.
Obama Releases Taxes, Does Not Qualify for Buffett Rule - National Journal
President Obama’s Secretary Paid Higher Tax Rate Than He Did - ABC
President Obama has been making a big political push for the “Buffett Rule,” which would require millionaires to pay a minimum of 30% of their income in taxes. To illustrate the point, the president has pointed out that billionaire investor Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than does his secretary.
President Obama’s secretary, Anita Decker Breckenridge, makes $95,000 a year. White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage tells ABC News that Breckenridge “pays a slightly higher rate this year on her substantially lower income, which is exactly why we need to reform our tax code and ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share. ”
The Buffett Tax Loss - Wall St. Journal
It turns out this Obama proposal will cost federal revenue.

...The case for the Buffett tax keeps eroding. When President Obama announced the idea, he said it would help "stabilize our debt and deficits over the next decade." Then came the inconvenient revelation that the new 30% millionaire's tax would raise only $46.7 billion over 10 years, and would leave about 99.5% of the deficit intact in 2013. It was a far cry from "stabilizing the debt."

Now we learn that the Buffett tax the Senate is expected to vote on early next week will make the deficit worse. That's because both Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats have made it clear that their new "fairness" tax is to offset the revenue loss from another provision related to the Alternative Minimum Tax.