"If we’re going to make spending cuts -- many of which we wouldn’t make if we weren’t facing such large budget deficits -- then it's only right that we ask everyone to pay their fair share."
Obama's definition of fairness: "Middle-class families shouldn’t pay higher taxes than millionaires and billionaires."
Newt Gingrich was the only GOP presidential candidate to refer to Obama's "class warfare" during the 09/22/2011 debate but Paul Ryan, John Boehner, and Lindsey Graham were all characterizing Obama's "fair share" as "class warfare" by then.
In an 08/15/2011 New York Times op-ed piece by the Chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, "Stop Coddling the Super Rich," Warren Buffett argued that because he received much of his compensation as "carried interest," taxed at 15 percent, his overall tax rate of 17.4 percent was significantly lower than that of his employees, who averaged 36 percent.
An independent voter who isn't issued Republican or Democratic talking points for characterizing Obama's view as "class warfare" or "fair share" has to evaluate some facts, so here goes.
Chris Wallace interviewed White House Senior Adviser David Plouffe on Fox News Sunday 09/25/11.
Wallace used the following figures to question whether top earners were paying their fair share.
Fair Share?
Top 1% = 38% of Federal Income Taxes
Top 10% = 70% of Federal Income Taxes
The Tax Foundation Oct. 2010
Non-Payers
46% = No Federal Income Taxes
The Tax Policy Center July 2011
Looking at these numbers, it seems that the wealthy may be paying a higher percentage of their income to the federal government. Note that the first set of numbers, stating what the wealthiest pay, and the second set, what 46% of households don't pay, come from two different organizations. The second study would appear to be excluding FICA taxes, which Buffett argues disproportionately hit those who derive all their income from salary. Are those numbers also excluded from the first study?
Is seeking to adjust the tax code for high earners class warfare?
On the 08/16/2011 PBS Newshour story Land of the Free, Home of the Poor Paul Solmon reports some different numbers.
Distribution of Financial and Housing Wealth in the United States
Top 20%: 84%
2nd 20%: 11%
3rd 20%: 4%
4th 20%: 0.2%
Lowest 20%: 0.1%
Study by Dan Ariely of Duke University and Michael I. Norton of Harvard
Here we get a story that deals more with "class" and class mobility. Because it deals with quintiles instead of deciles, the numbers don't directly stack up but the underlying numbers don't appear to be necessarily inconsistent.
When it comes to the fair share or class warfare of the Buffett rule, Jon Huntsman advocates cutting the 15% taxation on capital gains and dividends to zero. Mitt Romney supports cutting tax on capital gains, dividends, and interest to zero for those who earn less than $200,000. That makes him more of a "class warrior."
Rick Santorum would cut corporate taxes for manufacturers to zero. Massachusetts Democratic senatorial candidate Elizabeth Warren would beg to differ with that approach.
"There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody. You built a factory out there - good for you. But I want to be clear. You moved your goods to market on the roads the rest of us paid for. You hired workers the rest of us paid to educate. You were safe in your factory because of police forces and fire forces that the rest of us paid for. You didn't have to worry that marauding bands would come and seize everything at your factory and hire someone to protect against this because of the work the rest of us did. Now look. You built a factory and it turned into something terrific or a great idea - God Bless! Keep a Big Hunk of it. But part of the underlying social contract is you take a hunk of that and pay forward for the next kid who comes along."
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