April 10: 28 Patriotic Millionaires support the Buffett Rule at the White House

April 11: Elspeth Gilmore with our partner, Resource Generation, participates in panel hosted by Congressional Progressive Caucus

Click here to view video

April 13: Chuck  Collins interviewed on Buffett Rule

April 16: Chuck Collins: US News & World Report Buffett Rule Debate

April 17: Tax Day! Lots of Action around the country!

Pie Day video captures our campaign with Resource Generation in actions around the country in 1 min 32 seconds! RG Members in NYC: “Read All About It”.

Chuck Collins speaks out at “Stop the Pledge” Rally outside Grover Norquist’s office in DC.

Chuck Collins at Grover Norquist office: Stop the Pledge Rally

Ann Manning in Minneapolis:

Ann Manning standing with 99% in Minneapolis 2012

Our Voices Were Heard – April Actions is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

Each person on Wednesday appeared with an assistant who, it was suggested, paid taxes at a higher rate than the boss — the inequity that the so-called “Buffett Rule” is meant to redress.

The pairs included Abigail Disney, president of the Daphney Foundation, and her assistant, Celine Justice; Whitney Tilson, managing partner of T2 Partners L.L.C. and his assistant, Kelli Alires; Frank Jernigan, who has retired from Google, and his assistant Teresa Gardiner; and Lawrence Benenson, partner of Benenson Capital, and his assistant, Carmen Peterson.

Though it didn’t pass the Senate, more and more Americans now know that they are paying more to support the public institutions we all rely on in this country than some of the wealthiest people on the planet. Our messages are getting out and the public is getting educated. Keep up the good work, everyone!

Patriotic Millionaires Support Buffett Rule at White House is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

The Buffett Rule bill will be voted on next Monday, April 16 – on the eve of Tax Day. Please call your two Senators today and urge them to vote for tax fairness and support S. 2230, The Paying a Fair Share Act.

** Call the US Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121 **

Let your senators know you are a constituent and if you are business owner or leader of a business organization. Say that you value the public infrastructure and services that the Buffett Rule would help pay for. The real economy depends on strong communities, not tax breaks for the successful few. If you have prospered such that you would be subject to the new tax, let them know that and you are happy to pay it.

One objection to the Buffett Rule is that it will hurt job creators. If you are a business person, whether you will pay the tax or not, your opinion is valuable. Very few small business owners have incomes over $1 million. Senator need to hear from as many business people as possible.

• Ensure that taxpayers with more than $1 million in annual income paid at least as much as middle-class households in federal income taxes. More than 1,400 millionaires paid no federal income taxes in 2009 (most recent data). Thousands more used loopholes and preferential tax rates on capital gains and dividends to pay a fraction of what less well-off Americans pay.
• Phase-in an effective tax rate of at least 30 percent on incomes over $1 million. The full 30 percent rate does not kick in until income reaches $2 million. The bill also includes language to preserve the incentive for charitable giving.
• Senator Whitehouse noted, “The Joint Committee on Taxation has estimated that the bill would generate $47 billion in new revenue over the next decade. Other organizations have placed that estimate even higher, including Citizens for Tax Justice, which projected that the Buffett Rule would generate $171 billion over the same time period.”

Related Petition on Income Taxes

This petition calling on Congress to let the high-end Bush tax cuts expire is still open if you have not yet signed and would like to add your support.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN PETITION AGAINST HIGH-END TAX CUTS: Tell Congress and President Obama to let the Bush-era top bracket tax cuts for those with taxable incomes over $200,000 (individual) and $250,000 (couple) expire no later than Dec. 31, 2012, as now scheduled, without another extension.

Call Senators Today to Urge them to Support the Buffett Rule is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

Millionaires for Tax Hikes is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

Billionaire super-investor Warren Buffett has done it again. The Oracle of Omaha has made a bold and revealing statement about “taxing the wealthy.” In his op-ed in Monday’s The New York Times, Buffett wrote,“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.”

Buffett revealed that his own effective tax rate — the percentage of his income that he actually pays — is far below his co-workers, thanks to how investment income is taxed at lower rates. Buffett pays an effective rate of 17.4 percent, whereas most middle and upper income individuals pay over 30 percent of their income. He revealed one of the dirty secrets of tax policy — the privileged treatment of income from wealth over income from work and wages.

We now need ten thousand more like Warren Buffett to speak up, people with incomes over $250,000 that know in their hearts that they should pay more.

Of course, we need an engaged public — people in the bottom 98 percent — to mobilize and press for tax increases on the wealthy before any further budget cuts. But enlisting the voices of wealthy people for the common good is a key part of the strategy to change the political dynamics.

The good news is there are already several thousand who have stepped forward and spoken up. Several hundred business leaders and wealthy individuals have joined Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a joint initiative of the Agenda Project and Wealth for the Common Good. On June 7, the tenth anniversary of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy, they issued a powerful video calling on Congress to let the tax cuts expire.

These folks, in the top 2 percent of income and wealth holders, eloquently make the case that they have benefited from the generations of public investments that made their wealth possible. They celebrate the fertile soil we have created together in U.S. society for business and wealth creation and believe they have an obligation to future generations to pay their taxes so that others have the same opportunity.

Almost 500 high-income taxpayers support the Fairness in Taxation Act, that would increase top tax rates on millionaires, generating an additional $78 billion in urgently needed revenue. This legislation would also tax both capital gains and wage income over $1 million at the same rates. It would eliminate the “carried interest” loophole that enables billionaire hedge fund managers to have their income taxed at a low 15 percent. This legislation would eliminate the economic distortions that come from taxing income from work at twice the rate as income from wealth and investments.

There are now thousands of business leaders and wealthy investors calling on Congress to stop aggressive tax corporate dodging. They point out that it is bad for business when companies like General Electric and Verizon pay no taxes — and force patriotic domestic companies to compete on an unlevel playing field.

In early July, Senator Carl Levin reintroduced the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. At a press conference Senator Levin was joined by spokespeople from Business for Shared Prosperity and the Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse campaign. Rep. Lloyd Doggett introduced a version in the House.

Polls show that the public supports raising taxes on millionaires and closing offshore corporate tax shelters as part of getting our fiscal house in order. Yet the Tea Party Republicans have pledged to destroy the economy before raising taxes on their rich patrons. The bottom 98 percent needs to get organized — in mobilizations like the “Other 98 Percent” — to press for tax fairness. But it will enormously help the cause to have more of those who will pay these taxes step forward and speak up.

In our organizing work at Wealth for the Common Good, we share Warren Buffett’s view that many of the rich “love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them… Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.”

Polls show that wealthy people know the tax code is getting less fair and is out of balance. But many of them — like the population as a whole — don’t feel the intensity about tax fairness that they feel about other pressing matters such as education, children’s health, and ecological degradation. Very few people of any economic class feel passionately about tax fairness — to the point where we are politically engaged.

Now is the time for all of us to understand how important this tax debate is — and that everything we care about is under attack by the current drift in politics. We have to get real fired up about tax fairness.

Revenue must be on the table as part of debt and budget debates in the coming months. Congress must let the Bush tax breaks for the wealthy expire, increase top tax rates for millionaires, and eliminate aggressive corporate tax dodging.

Right now, our silence is consent to the status quo of budget cuts and unequal sacrifice. We need millions of ordinary citizens to speak up. And to compliment this, we need tens of thousands of our nation’s business leaders and wealthy individuals to speak out.

The alternative is austerity for everyone but the rich — and a growing economic apartheid in America.

Warren Buffett’s Call: Tax Wealth for the Common Good is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

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. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

Last year my federal tax bill — the income tax I paid, as well as payroll taxes paid by me and on my behalf — was $6,938,744. That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income — and that’s actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent.

If you make money with money, as some of my super-rich friends do, your percentage may be a bit lower than mine. But if you earn money from a job, your percentage will surely exceed mine — most likely by a lot.

To understand why, you need to examine the sources of government revenue. Last year about 80 percent of these revenues came from personal income taxes and payroll taxes. The mega-rich pay income taxes at a rate of 15 percent on most of their earnings but pay practically nothing in payroll taxes. It’s a different story for the middle class: typically, they fall into the 15 percent and 25 percent income tax brackets, and then are hit with heavy payroll taxes to boot.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, tax rates for the rich were far higher, and my percentage rate was in the middle of the pack. According to a theory I sometimes hear, I should have thrown a fit and refused to invest because of the elevated tax rates on capital gains and dividends.

I didn’t refuse, nor did others. I have worked with investors for 60 years and I have yet to see anyone — not even when capital gains rates were 39.9 percent in 1976-77 — shy away from a sensible investment because of the tax rate on the potential gain. People invest to make money, and potential taxes have never scared them off. And to those who argue that higher rates hurt job creation, I would note that a net of nearly 40 million jobs were added between 1980 and 2000. You know what’s happened since then: lower tax rates and far lower job creation.

Since 1992, the I.R.S. has compiled data from the returns of the 400 Americans reporting the largest income. In 1992, the top 400 had aggregate taxable income of $16.9 billion and paid federal taxes of 29.2 percent on that sum. In 2008, the aggregate income of the highest 400 had soared to $90.9 billion — a staggering $227.4 million on average — but the rate paid had fallen to 21.5 percent.

The taxes I refer to here include only federal income tax, but you can be sure that any payroll tax for the 400 was inconsequential compared to income. In fact, 88 of the 400 in 2008 reported no wages at all, though every one of them reported capital gains. Some of my brethren may shun work but they all like to invest. (I can relate to that.)

I know well many of the mega-rich and, by and large, they are very decent people. They love America and appreciate the opportunity this country has given them. Many have joined the Giving Pledge, promising to give most of their wealth to philanthropy. Most wouldn’t mind being told to pay more in taxes as well, particularly when so many of their fellow citizens are truly suffering.

Twelve members of Congress will soon take on the crucial job of rearranging our country’s finances. They’ve been instructed to devise a plan that reduces the 10-year deficit by at least $1.5 trillion. It’s vital, however, that they achieve far more than that. Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country’s fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness. That feeling can create its own reality.

Job one for the 12 is to pare down some future promises that even a rich America can’t fulfill. Big money must be saved here. The 12 should then turn to the issue of revenues. I would leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get.

But for those making more than $1 million — there were 236,883 such households in 2009 — I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more — there were 8,274 in 2009 — I would suggest an additional increase in rate.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Warren E. Buffett is the chairman and chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway.

Stop Coddling the Super-Rich is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) was impressed.  “It was interesting to see someone who is such an aggressive capitalist, who believes so much in our capitalist system, saying we’ve got the scales way too heavily toward people who are very, very wealthy.”

Buffett repeated a point he made in October 2007 to Tom Brokaw on NBC News, that his effective tax rate is significantly less than his lower paid co-workers.

Buffett disclosed that he paid a 16.5 percent tax rate on all his income in 2008 because the tax rate on capital gains and dividends is 15 percent.  Meanwhile, a Berkshire Hathaway employee earning between $33,000 and $83,000 must pay a 25 percent federal income tax rate.

Wealth for the Common Good is researching a campaign for 2010 to eliminate the tax preference for capital gains and dividend income. Our proposal would be to tax all forms of income the same.  We’d love your perspective on this.  Should income from capital gains be treated differently?  If so, why?

Feel free to post your thoughts here, in our comments section. Or email Alison@wealthforcommongood.org.

Buffett to Congress: The wealthy are under-taxed is an article on Wealth For Common Good.

Senate Democrats met with Buffett for more than an hour over lunch Thursday, peppering him with questions about the economy, said lawmakers in attendance.

“He said rich people are not paying enough taxes,” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.). “It was interesting to see someone who is such an aggressive capitalist, who believes so much in our capitalist system, saying we’ve got the scales way too heavily toward people who are very, very wealthy.”

Buffett told lawmakers that because of the cuts to the capital gains tax passed under former President George W. Bush, he pays taxes at a lower rate than some of his company’s employees.

It is an argument the investor has made before. Buffett said he paid a 16.5 percent tax rate on all his income because the tax rate on investment dividends and long-term capital gains is only 15 percent.

By contrast, a single employee at Buffet’s firm, Berkshire Hathaway, who earns between $33,000 and $83,000 must pay a 25 percent federal income tax rate.

Sen. Ben Nelson, a centrist Democrat from Nebraska, said he wasn’t sure whether Buffett’s chat would embolden his colleagues to raise taxes.

“I don’t know that people will move toward tax increases,” he said in reference to healthcare reform funding. “Tax is still for a four-letter word, and I think there are other ways to pay for this than raising taxes.”

In 2003, Congress cut the capital gains tax from 20 percent and created a separate 15 percent tax rate for dividends. Before then, dividends were taxed at the ordinary income rate, which is 35 percent for top earners.

Both tax cuts are due to expire at the end of next year.

Senators were eager to hear from the famous “Oracle of Omaha” as they struggle to solve the nation’s economic woes, which have helped drive Congress’s approval ratings to new lows.

Buffett told lawmakers that the long-term economic outlook of the nation was strong but declined to predict when the recession would end.

“People wanted to know what was going to happen in the next six months and he said, ‘I can’t tell you,’ ” recalled one participant.

Buffett told lawmakers that improving education and ensuring broad opportunity would help the nation grow economically over the next decade, but what most perked up some ears was what he had to say about taxing the rich.

Sen. Byron Dorgan (N.D.), chairman of the Democratic Policy Committee, who invited Buffett to the lunch, said colleagues wanted to hear the wisdom of an economic genius who draws 30,000 people to Berkshire’s annual meeting in Omaha, Neb. Buffett has met with Senate Democrats several times over the past few years.

“There were a lot of questions about the economy and his assessment of financial regulation,” said Dorgan.

Buffett shared with lawmakers his “common-sense approach to capitalism,” said one attendee.

He told lawmakers that they should overhaul the nation’s financial system in a way that allows investors to do well but also imposes a sense of responsibility on Wall Street.

Buffett supported President Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential election but has since criticized some of the president’s policy proposals. Earlier this year he called a cap-and-trade proposal to limit greenhouse gas emissions a “regressive” tax.”

Buffett has also urged Democrats to scale back their policy agenda to focus on fixing the economy.

The billionaire investor called the Employee Free Choice Act a “mistake.” The legislation, which would overhaul labor laws, is a priority of unions and many liberal Democrats.

But Buffett and Senate Democrats put aside their policy differences on Thursday to focus on the nation’s sluggish economy.

He gave a pep talk to some lawmakers who are wondering if the nation’s best economic days are past.

“He’s a real optimist and thinks this is a great country and our best days are ahead of us,” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.).

One lawmaker who attended the meeting said that Buffett gave the audience a lesson on the economic history of the world, touting the U.S. system as one that unlocks individual potential, striking a contrast with totalitarian countries that limit economic freedom.

Lawmakers said it was refreshing to hear a positive assessment of the nation’s economic system after listening to months of criticism from the left about capitalist excess and the inability of markets to self-regulate.

Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.), chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said the cap-and-trade proposal did not come up.

Many senators saw their own portfolios shrink as stock markets plunged over the last year, and no doubt would have liked to hear some personal stock advice from the market guru.

But Buffett said lawmakers didn’t invite him to ask for stock tips.

“They didn’t ask for any, they must have known how my recent ones worked out,” said Buffett, who has lost about $25 billion in wealth because of the recession, according to Forbes.com.

He declined to otherwise comment on his discussions.

Buffett tells Dems rich need to pay more is an article on Wealth For Common Good.