President Obama made the case today for the so-called “Buffet Rule,” which would mandate that the wealthy pay the same percentage of their income in taxes as middle class families.
He described for the audience the actions of one of his predecessors in the Oval Office, a president who “gave a speech where he talked about a letter he had received from a wealthy executive who paid lower tax rates than his secretary, and wanted to come to Washington and tell Congress why that was wrong. So this president gave another speech where he said it was ‘crazy’—that’s a quote—that certain tax loopholes make it possible for multimillionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary.”
“That wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior,” he said, “was Ronald Reagan.”
Reagan, said the president, believed that everyone in the U.S. should pay their fair share, a position that would “disqualify him from the Republican primaries these days.” He even suggested changing the name from the “Buffet Rule” to the “Reagan Rule” if that would make it a little easier for Republicans to bear.
Watch this video of President Obama’s remarks, embedded via CBS news:
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