Why We Need a Buffett Rule

Seven Convincing Reasons

 Warren Buffett, who disclosed that he pays a smaller percentage of his income in federal taxes than his secretary. The Buffett Rule holds that no millionaire should pay a lower effective tax rate than middle-class families.

 

The incomes of the top 1 percent have skyrocketed over the past three decades, nearly quadrupling and leaving middle-class incomes far behind. Rising inequality has meant that the very rich have captured an outsized share of the country’s economic gains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While many at the top continue to pay lower taxes than those below them on the income scale, the entire burden of deficit reduction falls on investments and services for the middle class.

 

© Center for American Progress