Taxing the Super Rich

"At a Hillary Clinton fund-raiser in New York last month, Warren Buffett, no stranger to wealth, told an audience filled with bankers and real-estate developers the system was, in effect, rigged. "This is what Congress in its wisdom did: the 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income in taxes than our receptionists do, or our cleaning ladies, for that matter." Buffett (who is a director of NEWSWEEK's parent, The Washington Post Company) offered a million dollars to any fellow magnate who could prove he had higher tax rates than his secretary."

I heard this story on NPR the other morning and reading it tonight on Newsweek about "Taxing the Super Rich" doesn't make it any easier to swallow. Haven't we been talking about doing an across-the-board percentage for paying our taxes for years? You pay "x" percent of your income, at any and every level ... doesn't that sound fair to you? I pay an enormous amount of tax and accept that as part of being an American but stories like this make my blood boil. The "super rich" should step up and pay their fair share as well! I would love to know what someone earning $398 million in a year would pay in taxes!

Looks like Dilbert has an idea.

Robert Reich has something to say about this too.