The Obama Administration has just proposed that millionaires pay at least the same effective US federal income tax rate as middle income individuals pay.
Anybody in the US Congress who attempts to challenge that concept of tax fairness should be immediately removed from office as a US Senator or as a US House Member, due to clear incompetence.
But you know what, there is something even more unfair than what The Buffett Rule attempts to correct.
Let me focus on two key tax rate spreads.
The first one is the difference between what millionaire's pay in US federal income tax on their income and what middle income individuals pay. This is what The Buffett Rule focuses on.
The second one is the difference between what US Big Corporations pay in US federal income tax on their income and what Smaller and Medium-sized US Businesses pay on their income, both ones set up as corporations and in other forms, like sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, etc.
The tax spread of the second one, which clearly both penalizes small and medium-sized US businesses, while at the same time, rewards large US Corps, especially Multinational Corps, is gargantuan as compared with the tax spread of the first one.
While closing both tax spreads is fair and noble, the key to also creating US jobs lies in not just closing, but also in reversing the direction of that huge very undesirable tax spread in the second one.
What is needed are true highly progressive US federal income tax rates on business income, that aren't just stair-step "sticker" increases, but reflect the economic reality of what effective tax rates are actually paid by businesses.
And what is also needed is a wisely designed and fair minimum tax on the worldwide income of large US Corps, which overdose on shifting income and US jobs overseas.
