Stop whining and pay your fair share!

Where's the evidence that tax cuts for the wealthy will fuel the economy?  This is a big issue that is being debated in Congress and in the media.  President Obama introduced the "Buffet Plan" on September 19th,2011 which would prevent millionaires from taking advantage of lower tax rates on investment earnings than what middle-income tax payers pay on their wages.  Warren Buffett is the chairman and chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway INC.  He wrote  in a New York Times Sunday article that "While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega- rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks".  Joel Slemrod a professor of Stephen Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan  said that "there is no compelling evidence that high taxes impede economic growth".

           
   
     Republicans will always argue that if you tax the "job creators" then they wouldn't be able to create more jobs.  Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis, chairman of the House Budget Committee told Fox News on September 18th, 2011,"If you tax something more you get less of it.  If you tax job creators more you get less job creation.  If you tax their investment more, you get less investment."  However when you try to look into this statement, it is hard to find the evidence that tax cuts for the wealthy create jobs.  Ronald Regan was the first Republican president to say that tax cuts for the rich would "trickle down" economic benefits to the rest of the country.  Some of the  increases in the federal deficit can be traced to Republican presidents who reduced taxes.

 

     The richest one percent of Americans now earn almost a quarter of the country's income and control 40 percent of its wealth,said Michael Keegan of the Huffington Post.  Americans are fed up that the rich aren't paying their fair share.  When most Americans are facing cut backs in services, higher payments for health insurance and job lay-offs, it's hard to feel sorry for the top one percent who don't pay taxes.  According to a CBS news/New York Times poll 56 percent of Americans said that wealthier Americans should pitch in and pay higher taxes to help reduce the deficit.  Tax cut will never create jobs and they don't help the economy.

Facts:
1. President Obama introduced the " Buffet Plan on September 19th, 2011.
2. Joel Slemrod was quoted in a MinnPost.com article by Myles Splicer.
3. Paul Ryan was on Fox News September 18th, 2011
4. Michael Keegan does opinion articles on the  Huffington Post.