Leading Republicans on Sunday spurned as "class warfare" an administration proposal dubbed "the Buffet rule" that would ensure millionaires are taxed at the same rate as the middle class.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell pictured in August. "Tax code should be reformed for one purpose -- generate jobs. When you say we'll tax one percent of the economy, that's class warfare," said Graham, who called for reforms that would eliminate deductions and flatten income tax rates overall. (photo: AFP)President Barack Obama was expected to make the proposal on Monday, picking up on a repeated complaint by billionaire investor Warren Buffett that he pays taxes at a lower rate than his secretary, White House officials said.
"If he's feeling guilty about it, I think he should send in a check," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Buffet on NBC's "Meet the Press." "But we don't want to stagnate this economy by raising taxes."
Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, dismissed "the Buffet rule" as "just a political move by the president."
Increasing taxes on millionaires would add "a de minimis amount of money to the Treasury to pay off the debt," he said on CNN's "State of the Union" talk show.
"Tax code should be reformed for one purpose -- generate jobs. When you say we'll tax one percent of the economy, that's class warfare," said Graham, who called for reforms that would eliminate deductions and flatten income tax rates overall.
Echoing Graham, Representative Paul Ryan, a Republican from Wisconsin, said the administration's proposal was "going in the wrong direction."
"Class warfare... may make for really good politics but it makes a rotten economics," he said on "Fox News Sunday." "We don't need a system that seeks to divide people. We don't need a system that seeks to prey on people's fear, envy and anxiety."
Some millionaires get a big break because investment gains -- such as capital gains, dividends and "carried interest" compensation paid to investment managers and hedge fund partners -- are taxed at a lower rate than wages.
by an even wider margin, 62 percent to 30 percent. It also found his overall job approval rating sinking to a new low of 45 percent.
