| Obama's Tax Return Shows He Would Not Share In Buffett Rule Income Tax Hike |
| Apr-13-2012 |
| Keywords: obama, tax return, buffett rule, |
The President and First Lady Michelle Obama's joint tax return for 2011 shows an adjusted gross income of $789,674. A tidy sum to be sure, but well below the threshold of a $1 million earner who if the President got his way, would pay 30% under the proposed Buffett Rule.
Now the President did give 22% of his family's income to charity. Generous to be sure. But what the family tax return highlights is that the President's inclusion of himself in his pitch for the Buffett Rule as one of those who should and would pay their fair share is just a little disingenuous.
The President would in fact not be one of those required to pay a 30% federal income tax rate. Which by the way would be 9.5-percentage points higher than what he paid in 2011 federal income taxes. The effective tax rate he's paying is 20.5, 3.5-percentage points lower than the national average, according to the IRS, for those in the $500,000 to $999,999 income bracket.
So the next time you hear the President say that people like he and Warren Buffett should pay their fair share, and are happy to do so, remember that he's actually not included in the group of $1 million earners who'd be asked to pay more. Which leads to one last thought, if the President does want to pay more, why didn't he at least make sure that he was paying the same amount as the national average for those in his income bracket. |
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Posted by Lou Dobbs Staff at 12:10 PM Email to a friend |
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