Obama: “Everyone Should Pay Their Fair Share”

The U.S. president requested approval of the proposed “Buffet Rule,” a plan that increases taxes for those who declare more than $1 million in earnings per year. “The government has to do what families across this country have been doing for years. We have to cut what we can’t afford to pay for what really matters,” he said. The purpose of this rule is to save a total of $3 billion dollars over the next ten years in order to diminish the fiscal deficit.

“The health of our economy depends in part on what we do right now,” Obama said today at noon at the White House as he presented his plan for creating new jobs and reducing the deficit. “The government has to do what families across this country have been doing for years. We have to cut what we can’t afford to pay for what really matters,” the American president explained.

“I will not support any plan that puts all the burden for closing our deficit on ordinary Americans. And I will veto any bill that changes benefits for those who rely on Medicare but does not raise serious revenues by asking the wealthiest Americans or biggest corporations to pay their fair share,” he declared, in obvious allusion to the proposals of the Republican Party. “If we’re going to ask seniors, or students, or middle-class Americans to sacrifice, then we have to ask corporations and the wealthiest Americans to share in that sacrifice.”

“Warren Buffett’s secretary shouldn’t pay a higher tax rate than Warren Buffett,” he said.

This Alternative Minimum Tax answers the petition of multimillionaire, Warren Buffett, who urged the American mega-rich to make an effort, considering that in many instances they pay lower taxes than those with less income. The tax deduction for the wealthiest is 15 percent; meanwhile, tax deductions for lower classes vary from 10 to 35 percent.

The first closing date fixed on the calendar for the reduction of the deficit is December 31. By that time, the committee formed by six Democratic congressmen and some Republicans are supposed to have approved methods to reduce the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion and to save up to $1.5 trillion (more than 1 billion euro).