Votes For “Sham” Buffett Tax Instead Of Passing A Budget
As millions of Michiganders finish their taxes, liberal Democrat Debbie Stabenow is working to ensure that next year some of them can pay even more money to the federal government, while refusing to pass a budget for the third year in a row.
Stabenow voted this evening in support of the Buffett Tax increase which according to the Wall Street Journal does virtually nothing to the national deficit, and does nothing to create a single job or lower gas prices. Additionally, newspapers, economists and political commentators around the country have derided this vote as “total gimmickry,” “a ruse,” “a publicity stunt,” “a hoax,” and “a sham.”
What’s more – it comes just one day after Senate Democrats, for the third year in a row, ignored the legal deadline of April 15th, established under the Budget Control Act of 1974, to pass a budget resolution in the Senate. For over 1,000 days, Stabenow and her liberal colleagues have refused to pass, or even introduce, a budget in the Senate as the federal debt has skyrocketed past $15 trillion.
“The Buffett Tax doesn’t create a single Michigan job, it does nothing to lower our gas prices, and it does virtually nothing to put a dent in our government’s debt, but Debbie Stabenow prefers cheap political theater over tackling the serious problems facing Michigan,” said National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) spokesman Lance Trover. “Debbie Stabenow doesn’t even have the courage to pass a budget, yet she has no problem sticking Michiganders with higher taxes and more wasteful Washington spending.”
BACKGROUND …
Debbie Stabenow Has Voted Over 150 Times In Support Of Higher Taxes
Since 2001, Stabenow Has Voted Over 150 Times In Favor Of Higher Taxes. (Congressional Quarterly, www.cq.com, Accessed 8/29/11)
And Now She Supports The Buffett Tax, Which Creates Zero Jobs
THE BUFFETT TAX WOULD CREATE ZERO NEW JOBS. On the seventh and final page of its background report on the “Buffett Rule,” out this morning, the Obama administration finally dives into what it calls “the economic rationale” for imposing a new minimum tax rate on millionaires. If you’re an unemployed American, that placement should be your first red flag. The second should be the rationale itself. Once you read it, you’ll realize the Buffett Rule has nothing to do with helping you, or the 13 million other Americans looking for work as of March, find a job. (Jim Tankersley, The Buffett Rule Won’t Get You a Job, National Journal, 04/10/12)
BUFFETT TAX GIMMICK WOULD INCREASE REVENUE BY “LESS THAN ONE-TENTH OF ONE PERCENT OF THE $1.2 TRILLION BUDGET DEFICIT” (0.1%): “This year, the Buffett rule would increase federal revenues by all of $1.1 billion. That’s less than one-tenth of one percent of the $1.2 trillion budget deficit Mr. Obama is scheduled to run this year. Through 2022 Joint Tax expects less than $47 billion in total new revenues from the Buffett rule while the government will be adding trillions of dollars to the national debt. Joint Tax even concedes, as it is rarely wont to do, that the rule will affect taxpayer behavior: By raising the effective tax rate on capital gains, the rule will encourage people to realize fewer capital gains.” (Editorial, “The Bottom 0.1%,” The Wall Street Journal, 3/22/2012)
Another Budget Deadline Comes and Goes Under Democrats
Democrats have gone a record three years in a row with no budget. They last passed a budget in 2009 so that they could pass the President’s health care law through reconciliation.
April 15th was the Legal Deadline for Passing a Final Budget Resolution
- Sadly, Congress has failed to pass a final budget resolution by the legal deadline three times since Democrats won the majority in 2007 (for fiscal years 2011, 2012, and 2013).
- In addition to not bringing up their own proposal for a vote, Democrats in the Senate have wanted to avoid discussing the budget so much that last year they rejected four opportunities to move to budget resolutions (budgets from President Obama, Representative Ryan, Senator Toomey, and Senator Paul).
Nonpartisan Reviewers Have Derided The Buffett Tax As ‘A Hoax On Voters,’ A ‘Total Sham,’ ‘Desperate.’ And Even Democrats Admit It’s ‘Not Going To Help’
BILL KELLER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: “…sounds a little desperate.” (Bill Keller, “The Sweet Spot,” The New York Times, 4/15/12)
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN: “…won’t do much to eat away at the nation’s debt, it won’t create jobs, and no one expects it to get through the Democratic-controlled Senate…” (Candy Crowley, “Buffett Rule Would Barely Dent Debt But Fits Nicely Into Obama’s Theme,” CNN, 4/16/12)
MIKA BRZEZINSKI, MSNBC: “…just what does it really accomplish, though?” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 4/16/12)
DANA MILBANK: “President Obama admits it: His proposed ‘Buffett Rule’ tax on millionaires is a gimmick…” (Dana Milbank, “Rebuffing Obama’s Gimmicky ‘Buffett Rule’,” The Washington Post, 4/11/12)
BOB SCHIEFFER, CBS: “…kind of a publicity stunt…?” (CBS’ “Face The Nation,” 4/15/12)
JIM VANDEHEI, POLITICO: “It’s total gimmickry. It’s 1% of what you need to actually take care of the deficit.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 4/12/12)
FMR. REP. HAROLD FORD (D-TN): “…not going to help us grow…” Q: “So you support the Buffett rule? FORD: “No, there’s a big difference between the Buffett rule and reforming the tax code.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 4/16/12)
FMR. SEN. RUSS FEINGOLD (D-WI): “My belief is this is more symbolic.” (MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” 4/16/12)
UNION LEADER [NH]: “…A Total Sham…The Buffett Rule is not about math or fairness or shared sacrifice. It is simply a cynical ploy to buy the votes of the ignorant and gullible.” (Editorial, “The Buffett Rule: A Total Sham,” Union Leader, 4/12/12)
FOSTER’S DAILY DEMOCRAT [NH]: “Buffett Rule Is A Hoax On Voters … Buffett, schmuffett, President Obama’s Buffett Rule has nothing to do with fairness… It is also about distracting voters from the Obama administration’s mishandling of the economy.” (Editorial, “Buffett Rule Is A Hoax On Voters,” Foster’s Daily Democrat, 4/12/12)
MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL [WI]: “Buffett Rule Is A Political Gimmick That Won’t Work … the Buffett Rule is more likely to spawn a new generation of tax dodges than to usher in a new era of tax fairness. It is, in fact, nothing more than a smoke screen that obscures the possibility of real tax reform.” (Editorial, “Buffett Rule Is A Political Gimmick That Won’t Work,” Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 4/11/12)
ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER [CA]: “…the latest gimmick…” (“Taxing Those Mean Old Millionaires,” Orange County Register, 4/12/12)
THE ECONOMIST: “What a pity that he is changing tack this time, bashing the rich via gimmicks such as the ‘Buffett rule’ … it is a miserable portent for the future.” (Editorial, “Game On,” The Economist, 4/14/12)
BLOOMBERG NEWS: “The president may be just as happy to have an issue to campaign on as a law to sign.” (“Buffett Rule Or Not, Most Rich People Already Pay,” Bloomberg Businessweek, 4/12/12)
