In Senate, Republicans Block Debate on 'Buffett Rule'
By JONATHAN
WEISMANNYTimes Published: April 16, 2012
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans on Monday blocked a move to open
debate on the so-called Buffett Rule, ensuring that a measure pressed
for months by President Obama and Senate Democrats to ensure that the
superrich pay a tax rate of at least 30 percent will not come to a
decisive vote.
Enlarge This Image
Luke Sharrett for The New York Times
Senators Roy Blunt, left, and Mitch McConnell, the minority leader,
walked to the Senate chamber on Monday.
Related
For Two Economists, the Buffett Rule Is Just a Start (April 17, 2012)
Obama Goes on Offensive Over Taxes on Wealthy (April 11, 2012)
* Warren E. Buffett: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich (August 15, 2011)
But the fierce debate preceding the 51-45 vote — the Democrats were
nine votes short of the 60 they needed — set off a week of political
wrangling over taxes that both parties insist they are already
winning.
Senate Democrats intend to return repeatedly to the legislation, named
after the billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who has complained that
he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. On Thursday,
House Republicans will counter with a proposed tax cut for businesses
that they say would spur job creation but would cost the Treasury
almost exactly what the Democrats' tax increase would raise.
Republicans say they like that contrast, and their language ahead of
the vote on a motion just to take up the Buffett Rule was harsh and
aimed squarely at Mr. Obama, who first proposed a 30-percent tax rate
floor for anyone earning at least $1 million a year last September.
Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican minority leader,
went to the Senate floor and all but called Mr. Obama a liar.
"By wasting so much time on this political gimmick that even Democrats
admit won't solve our larger problems, it's shown the president is
more interested in misleading people than he is in leading," Mr.
McConnell said of the Buffett Rule push.
Democrats said they saw that as a sign of weakness. Pointing to a
Gallup poll from last week that indicated 60 percent of Americans
supported the proposal, including 63 percent of political
independents, Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, called
the Republican response "proof positive" that "for first time in
decades, maybe generations, they're on the defensive on their
signature issue," taxes.
After he made that comment, a CNN poll was released putting support at
72 percent, including 53 percent of Republicans.
With taxes due on Tuesday, a Washington debate on the tax code this
week was inevitable, but the escalating attacks reflect the
peculiarities of this election year. Democrats have known for weeks
that the Buffett Rule would not win the 60 votes needed to break a
Republican filibuster, but they pressed forward in part to try to make
the Republicans' likely presidential nominee, Mitt Romney, the face of
economic "unfairness."
Mr. Romney paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent on $21.7 million
in income in 2010, the only full year's tax returns he has released.
The Obama re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee
again pressed Mr. Romney on Monday to release more than a decade's
worth of tax returns, something his campaign has refused to do.
"I don't think he's going to want this present inequity to remain when
he is a prime example of it," Mr. Schumer said.
In the Senate, all the Republicans but Senator Susan Collins of Maine
voted against allowing debate on the Buffett Rule. Every Democrat but
Senator Mark Pryor of Arkansas voted to allow it. Four senators did
not vote.
Republicans relished a debate on their turf, accusing Democrats of
trying to raise taxes on investments and capital to feed their
appetite for government spending. They portrayed the Buffett Rule as a
gimmick and political show vote, whose revenue impact would not even
dent the trillion dollar budget deficit.
Instead, the House will vote on a bill by Representative Eric Cantor
of Virginia, the majority leader, to give businesses with fewer than
500 employees a 20 percent tax cut this year. Mr. Cantor says that
while the Buffett Rule would raise taxes on "job creators," his bill
would spur job growth by easing the tax burden on small businesses.
Republicans and Democrats have created mirror-image arguments to take
into the election year. The Cantor bill would cost the Treasury $46
billion. The Senate Democratic bill would raise $47 billion over 10
years — but $160 billion if the Bush era tax cuts for the affluent are
extended.
Democrats argued for more fairness in the tax code. Their legislation
would establish a 30-percent floor for households earning $1 million a
year.
A White House statement on Monday supporting the Senate bill said "one
in four taxpayers with annual income greater than $1 million today
pays a lower tax rate than millions of hardworking middle-class
households."
Republicans argued that no one's taxes should be raised while the
economy is struggling to regain its footing. The House bill would
offer a tax cut to small businesses, but it is drawn so broadly that
it would benefit anyone with income through partnerships and other
"pass-through" entities." Almost half the benefit would accrue to the
households with income over $1 million, according to the non-partisan
Tax Policy Center.
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee immediately went after
the two most vulnerable Senate Republicans running for re-election
this year, Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts and Dean Heller of Nevada,
accusing them of standing by billionaires while their party tries to
cut Medicare. And they vowed the measure would continue to come up
this year.
"Sometimes special interests can take a punch or two, and it's only
the threat of public persistence that can move an issue along," said
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democrat of Rhode Island, the author of
the legislation.
But Republicans were just as much on offense. The National Republican
Congressional Committee said vulnerable House Democrats could "either
focus on growing small businesses by providing them tax relief to
create jobs or help his party leaders raise taxes to fuel their
spending addictions."
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
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