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Patch's Poll: Do You Favor The So-called 'Buffett Rule'?

On Monday Senate Republicans blocked the president's proposal to increase taxes on the wealthy. Do you agree or disagree with this plan?

The so-called 'Buffett Rule' - a proposed minimum tax rate for millionaires named for billionaire Warren Buffett - failed Monday in a procedural vote in the U.S. Senate.

Republicans called the measure a divisive Democratic distraction from the nation's real problems that would not address the economy's real woes, reported FoxNews.com

"This legislation will do nothing with regard to job creation, with regard to gas prices, with regard to economic recovery," Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, was quoted as saying on the website.

"Only around 210,000 taxpayers , a bit over 1 of every 1,000 , would face higher federal taxes if the measure were enacted, according to an estimate by one respected bipartisan research group," reported philly.com.

What do you think? Are you in favor of this change in the tax codes? Take our poll and add your thoughts in the comments.



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Gene Bartholomew April 18, 2012 at 05:08 pm
it is that simple, greed caused this, just track and reverse what they did
repeal CFMA of 2000 close loopholes surtax corporations that either export jobs or import aliens to do the work of Americans since 1980 we have been told that giving to the wealthy is our salvation and the only way to go because they invest and they create jobs and bla blah blah, BS, most jobs are created by small businesses and start ups, and we gave them 30 years to prove Trickle Down would be great for us all, look around, we have fallen behind while the rich enjoyed raises of 300%. A strong economy needs a strong middle class that has cash left over from mortgage, energy, and gas to drive to work to support discretionary spending, lots of it. Its not Rocket Science, they wrote these bills, not our politicians, simple repeals are all that are required.
Gene Bartholomew April 18, 2012 at 05:10 pm
Some want us to return to @1900, when there were 2 classes of people, this is by design.
That was the entire concept of CFMA of 2000, it removed all financial, commodities and other regulations that were written after the crashes in the early 1900's. It's all in the video.
Jeff Brown April 18, 2012 at 05:55 pm
wait...so your name is actually eddie munster? I use Jeff
Brown but it's actually Barney Fife wow i feel like a weights been lifted...
Waterford Rez April 18, 2012 at 07:13 pm
Wow, has this gotten off subject. Gene, I hope you are not living in a cabin in the woods somewhere making "special delivery" packages to mail. Some of what you state has some truth but it hasn't recently started. Corruption of leaders started, if I had to guess, during the reign of the Pharaohs, followed by Ancient Greece, followed on by Ancient Rome, followed by the Kings in the middle ages, followed by England and France etc. Notice a pattern? In fact, corruption is as old as mankind. So stop trying to point fingers, thay all are bought and paid for, yet we vote them in. If you want to blame anyone, blame us, the American people.
The Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei Party, commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was voted into power by the German people in 1932. Yet, it was the culmination of years and years of poor choices by the Germanic people. They were a democracy, just like us. They got what they deserved, we are starting to get what we deserve. WE VOTED THEM IN!!! FDR started us down this rabbit hole 80 years ago when the constitution began to become irrelevant. It's not one specific group or another, one bill or another, it is a culmination of voting in leaders who ignored the constitution and became drunk with power. The rich always try to get richer. Every society has a segment of people who are content being poor and subsidized. These concepts are as old as dirt. True democracies last only so long historically.
Waterford Rez April 18, 2012 at 07:33 pm
If you really want to get depressed....or scared, watch "Nietzsche and the Nazis", it is a documentary by Dr. Stephen Hicks (Department of Philosophy, Rockford College). It is on Netflix but you can also order it. We are not Nazi Germany of course, but the methods used to gain power are surprisingly similar to what is happening now:
Control the media, control the press, control the entertainment industry, identify the villains who are responsible for all of your problems, control the work force, control industrialization, gun control, lie, lie, lie and lie again....big ones, lie so big that the lies just have to be true. Suppress opposition, pander to the weak minded, criticize the strong and successful...notice anything? Seriously, watch it, you'll get kind of freaked out...
Gene Bartholomew April 18, 2012 at 07:35 pm
Try and keep it out of the gutter, we're talking about the future of the nation and the middle class.
Ed Munster was a Republican State Senator for many years and ran for Congress. We don't see eye to eye at all but when you do what you just did you've gained nothing, although I seriously doubt it is possible to educate any republican about the many ways they have destroyed the nation and the middle class, they just can't see it, even though we all lived through 2000-2008. I do not agree at all with the republican mentality of cutting more govt regulations and spending and propping up corporations that are doing great, corporations own SCOTUS and they got SCOTUS to declare that corporations have the same rights as people. Fine, cut the cord then Republicans, you expect people to go off welfare and state assistance when they get a job, FINE, corporations too, off the bottle , off the feeding tube, no more govt aid to any corporations that can stand on their own. They want the same rights?? fine you got them.
Gene Bartholomew April 18, 2012 at 07:45 pm
Oh and the cry of republicans that this is all the fault of people who bought homes they couldn't afford??
In the video too, they set it up to fail, removed regulations that would normally not qualify people, so the loans would fail. They brought back the old Bucket Shops, betting parlors, they bet against themselves, they lost, people lost their homes and then we bailed them out. They actually thought that by legalizing everything that had been regulated to banned after the crashes in the early 1900's that there wouldn't be another crash, that they would just get rich. How freeeking stupid is that?? watch the video and share it, thats what happened to our economy, it dominoed, CFMA of 2000 caused it all, high energy prices, unregulated financing, unregulated bucket shops, unregulated Wall St
LiveForFreedom April 18, 2012 at 08:05 pm
It seems that this article was supposed to be about the Buffet Rule.
As usually happens, it becomes a train wreck about corporations, class warfare, poor, rich, empathy, socialism, capitalism, etc. Why are we talking about the Buffet Rule? Because just like a strung out 'junkie', the government needs more money. Why don't we just conviscate all the wealth of the top 1%? Because It still would not be enough money to reduce the $11.3 trillion dollars in National debt. Stop the Madness. Stop the Spending.
Catherine Zamecnik April 18, 2012 at 08:54 pm
Yes, the poor pay taxes. Do you think it's not included in their rent payments? They also have cars so they pay property tax on that and gas. Everyone tries to get away with not paying sales tax. People think if they buy online where it says no tax collected that they don't have to pay it, but they're supposed to include those purchases in their tax filings. So people buy most of their junk online and skip the sales tax. What happens...the state raises sales tax, so now the brick and mortar stores have to make up for the taxes that aren't collected from all those online sales. This makes the storefronts even less competitive and force them to close. It's one of the reasons I'm closing the music store and going online. Can't afford the overhead. But big corps like amazon have worked it out that way. As far as reaping ALL the benefits, yes it must be great to be soo poor that you are exempt from paying income tax. Get a grip. If we keep falling for all the games played by the big corps, we'll all.be paid min wage and we'd all be exempt from paying income tax. Then where will the money come from to pay for all the services that are needed in this country? If the big CEO's want to play that game, let them take up the slack.
Sunshine April 19, 2012 at 12:36 am
Yes it is true that we spend too much. How could anyone in their right mind think that we can actually stand the kind of debt that we have racked up. An uptick in the interest rates that we pay on our national debt could radically change the budget. Getting deficit spending under control is indeed the answer for fixing our economic woes. Having said that, tax loophole that have guys like Obama who make almost 800,000 last year paying less of a percentage of their taxes than someone making 100,000 is ridiculous. And yes, rich people should pay a higher percentage of their income as they do benefit more from living in this country by a long site than people that are not rich.
Marissa Cartoceti April 19, 2012 at 02:12 am
Thank you Ed for addressing the anonymity issue. I don't see any point in hiding behind ridiculous made-up screen names. If people don't have the confidence to own their words, they probably shouldn't be making comments on blog sites.
tom burland April 19, 2012 at 11:37 am
How about we focus on lowering spending and lowering taxes rather than increasing anyone's. And yes it irritates me that I have a significantly higher tax rate than the President and most likely many members of congress
Jim April 19, 2012 at 04:28 pm
Catherine, The Buffet rule refers to Federal Income Tax rate...not all the other taxes you mentioned...Your comment is for a different debate...once again...Everybody should pay some Federal income tax even if it is only a small amount...
Gene Bartholomew April 19, 2012 at 05:11 pm
You are out there.
The government needs more money because of too much corporate welfare. Answer a few simple questions if you can. Why should we taxpayers subsidize big oil when it pulls in @50 billion in clear profits every quarter? Why was it OK for W and Cheney to give Halliburton and others NO BID CONTRACTS???? WASN'T THAT WASTEFUL?? The Govt just announced today that the Veterans Admin is adding over 1,000 specialists to help treat our armed forces who are having stress disorders thanks to the Bush family invading Iraq, the cost of that war rises daily. Lesson learned?? When the reasons for invading Iraq were touted many especially Rumsfeld stated that we souldn't worry about cost because Iraqi Oil would pay us back for freeing them from the "bad man". Now that Halliburton and Bush Inc control the oil we hear nothing about being paid back, explain that, how is that OK but aid to the blind and handicapped has to be cut?? You're simplistic, Stop the Madness, Stop the spending??? on what? be specific. It's people like you that are destroying our way of life by buying into the BS you are fed. Just in CT billions yearly to UTC, Pfizer, CIGNA, and others, a stupid busway to nowhere to bus illegals into Hartford for corporations. there's your waste, no one wants to confiscate the 1% wealth, we're just tired of being screwed and want them to pay their share, .....unbelieveable you understand nothing
Gene Bartholomew April 19, 2012 at 05:23 pm
We already lowered spending, and cut regulations.
Since 1980 Phil Gramm and others conspired to remove as many regulations as they can, all of which were put in place after we were screwed over, either by corporations, employers, pollution, DDT, financial institutions and the result is we got royally screwed over. So now you people walk around repeating "cut spending" and you don't even know what you are talking about, you're repeating rhetoric, truth does not come in sound bites or on fauxnews. I posted the truth above so you could learn, I spent years researching it, its all accurate and I challenge any of you to prove it wrong, not with rhetoric, with facts. S/S and medicare need to be increased NOT cut, don't be a sucker, they have taken and taken and they want more, that is the disease known a GREED. CFMA of 2000 was the final straw, our system couldn't take anymore because of high fuel costs people started losing jobs, it dominoed, you can't take gas at $1.85 and raise it to $4 and think consumers and businesses will just absorb and keep on, it's really a shame to see so many people vote against the Buffet rule simply because they believe the bull on faux or Rush. Why would you want to allow the rich to skirt paying any income tax? Wouldn't you want them to pay the same rate you do? You allow them to cut spending youll be cutting your own throat, fools.
Gene Bartholomew April 19, 2012 at 05:26 pm
Tax issues:
On March 4, 2004, Senators Levin (D-MI) and Dorgan (D-ND) released a GAO report on tax avoidance by federal contractors. At the time, Halliburton had 17 subsidiaries in tax haven countries, including 13 in the Cayman Islands which does not impose a corporate tax. In 2002, Citizen Works Citizen Works found that Halliburton ranked 8th Among the Fortune 500 companies with the most offshore tax haven subsidiaries. Dorgan, who chairs the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, has also noted that Halliburton avoids accountability by hiring employees under its subsidiary in the Cayman Islands, a tax haven country in the Caribbean, which allows for avoidance of U.S. tax, worker safety and other laws. "We've had a report showing a large percentage of corporations doing business with the federal government that are creating subsidiaries in tax haven countries," he said. "They want all of the largesse of contracting with our government and none of the responsibilities of paying taxes." During Dick Cheney's tenure as Halliburton's CEO, the number of company subsidiaries located in offshore tax havens increased from 9 (in 1995) to 44 (in 1999). One of these subsidiaries (Halliburton Products and Services Ltd.), was incorporated in the Caiman Islands, and was used to get around sanctions on doing business in Iran. (Erwin Seba, Reuters, March 20, 2003)
Gene Bartholomew April 19, 2012 at 05:29 pm
– Seventy-eight of the 280 companies paid zero or less in federal income taxes in at least one year from 2008 to 2010…In the years they paid no income tax, these companies earned $156 billion in pretax U.S. profits. But instead of paying $55 billion in income taxes as the 35 percent corporate tax rate seems to require, these companies generated so many excess tax breaks that they reported negative taxes (often receiving outright tax rebate checks from the U.S. Treasury), totaling $21.8 billion. These companies’ “negative tax rates” mean that they made more after taxes than before taxes in those no-tax years.
– Thirty corporations paid less than nothing in aggregate federal income taxes over the entire 2008-10 period. These companies, whose pretax U.S. profits totaled $160 billion over the three years, included: Pepco Holdings (–57.6% tax rate), General Electric (–45.3%), DuPont (–3.4%), Verizon (–2.9%), Boeing (–1.8%), Wells Fargo (–1.4%) and Honeywell (–0.7%). Are you getting it?
Gene Bartholomew April 19, 2012 at 05:35 pm
above you will now find a graph showing the corporations that not only did not pay taxes WE PAID THEM, they control our politicians, they write the tax codes so that they get more and more write offs and deductions and now WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE PAYING THEM EXTRA MONEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That should upset you. So not only are they not paying their fair share, which cost us billions since 2000 every year, we have to take money out of the system to pay them, AND YOU WANT TO CUT SERVICES, PD FD, EDUCATION, S/S, MEDICARE, ETC ETC SO THAT CAN NOT ONLY CONTINUE IT CAN INCREASE??? wow, you people really have no clue and I don't mind telling you, what will be left for your children and grandchildren?
Elizabeth April 19, 2012 at 07:10 pm
Quit spewing Gene - the banks were forced to give loans to people who could not afford them lest they be charged with discrimination by the government. You know the CRA - right Gene? It's called blackmail by the government Gene and I'm not singling out Dems or Reps. but both parties for this debacle.
Jim April 19, 2012 at 07:24 pm
Catherine, we are talking about Federal Income tax..not the ones u listed...thats a different debate
Jim April 20, 2012 at 12:08 am
Gene Bartholomew, Please take a wander back through this blog. You need a life..You have spent more time commenting and typing than you have living. Perhaps an intervention is in order. I hope you have a family to execute one. I for one an tired of your ramblings...
Justin April 20, 2012 at 12:09 am
Gene don't hate the player hate the game. The GOVERNMENT who you are advocating to give more money and more power too wrote the rules you are complaining about. The funny thing is your rational to fix these issues is to trust in the people that created them. Can you not see how flawed your thinking is?
Justin April 20, 2012 at 12:16 am
"we're just tired of being screwed and want them to pay their share, .....unbelieveable
you understand nothing" Gene name the name of one rich person who has stolen money from you? Name someone! I can name someone that takes money out of my pay check weekly? Can you?
Gene Bartholomew April 20, 2012 at 11:07 am
People, I'm trying to teach you, educate you, what have you researched? what do you think you know?
Try to follow this... Corporations pay off our politicians in many ways, recently the stock insider trading was exposed. Then they get them to pass laws that they, the corporations wrote, generally these are tax laws. Over the years, decades, they have fine tuned this so that many corporations now not only do not pay any taxes, we THE TAXPAYERS actually give them money back, WHEN THEY DIDN'T PAY IN THE FIRST PLACE. They have also set this up for themselves personally in many ways, so we have the very rich and the very large corporations not paying any taxes and taking from the system on top of it and they control the news so its not being covered or exposed as it should. DO YOU GET IT??? Imagine not paying taxes all year and then getting a rebate check on top of it. Wouldn't you say that would crush our system financially, especially when so many are out of work which means those tax dollars are not coming in too. That is where our loss is, try to fathom that. In the meantime they are setting us up against eachother, dems vs repubs, alwasy this big war of BS and theories to distract us. It's not you vs me, or dems vs repubs. It us vs them. I posted the proof, you don't want to learn?, to know what is really going on? remain
Gene Bartholomew April 20, 2012 at 11:10 am
You don't know what's going on, what the hell are you talking about??, name a rich person who stole from me?? clown, they steal from all of us.
Remain with your head in the sand, don't learn.
Gene Bartholomew April 20, 2012 at 11:11 am
I never said that.
Fred Young April 20, 2012 at 05:05 pm
Gene; Everytime I open my mailbox, there are several of your longwinded responses that all say the same thing. Your message is clear, many, many posts ago. I do not dispute your claims of corporate welfare, but you never address the generational social welfare that also must stop. How about cutting ALL foreign aid in half immediately? Start with Israel so we do not look prejudicial.
Gene Bartholomew April 20, 2012 at 06:28 pm
Good points Fred.
Social welfare would not be needed as much if the greedy had not been so greedy. the issue is getting people to work, and you can't do that when there are no jobs. In good times however there are people who live on welfare and that must end, but corporate welfare has to end first. I also believe there needs to be a tax levy on corporations that move or have moved jobs overseas, without consumers that are employed there is no economy. as to foreign aid, read the book Confessions of an Economic Hitman, it describes our foreign aid system, which is basically set up to pad the pockets of Halliburton, Bechtel, Brown & Root and others, it is designed so that these certain corporations get the contracts for the foreign work, it is also designed so the host country can't repay it, so we the U.S. taxpayers do, that is what happened when you hear on the news that our "govt forgave the foreign aid owed by X country today". Those corporations still get paid, by us. Saudi Arabia is the only sucess story for them, Iraq is the latest failure, they try to get them to be "our ally", the issue with Hussein I believe was Iran/Contra, he was on board up till then, our bestest newest buddy, selling him weapons and the gas he used on the Kurds, but at the same time Bush was selling weapons to Iran, his enemy, iran/Contra. makes you wonder who the bad guy really is
wtfdrez May 25, 2012 at 03:13 am
Oh, great Gene, Let's blame Bush. For the love of this country, focus!!! When Warren Buffett forks over a billion dollars to pay down the deficit than I'll listen to his "ideas".
PDY~ I'm back and i gotta say trickle down does work. When Mr. or Mrs. Money bags makes a ton of money than he or she buys lots of cars, fancy houses, employees people to work in their houses and run their companies. They buy furniture .. they travel, they prosper and grow and SPEND their money, they stimulate the economy in a way that I could never... Sadly I'm not Mr. or Mrs Money bags but I will benefit in some way:) Please trust me when I say that I have never been employeed by a poor person. take care~
REVMAN June 7, 2012 at 02:48 pm
I have seen 100's of elections and NOTHING WILL CHANGE no matter what party gets in --TAXES will always go up the middle class will stay the same because of the way they vote-EVERYTHING IS AS IT WAS BEFORE ONLY DIFFERENT(day)
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Just a short thought to get the word out quickly about anything in your neighborhood.
Share something with your neighbors. Write a new post... What's up? Make an announcement, speak your mind, or sell something
Ed Sutcliffe June 19, 2013 at 01:19 pm
am I a bad parent when we get 3 feet of snow and I play with my kids outside, make a snow fort andRead More wait for mom to come outside and surprise her with snowballs? Mom smiles and and screams with excitement and joins in on the fun. whats the difference between that and water balloons? WOW find something else to write about and let kids have FUN..
Matt June 19, 2013 at 01:36 pm
I'd also like to point out that this has been going on for about 20 years. And for those 20 years,Read More everyone enjoys it. And for those 20 years, everyone knows if you don't want to participate, you can walk around it. And for those 20 years, nobody has ever complained. And it is clearly not bullying. Though that is a nice attempt by the author to use a dramatic buzz word to exaggerate something.
Stephanie Gerrish June 19, 2013 at 02:00 pm
I don't think it should be a problem if kids who did not want anything to do with did not get forcedRead More into being involved. But matt.. I defiantly has not been going on for 20 years. I was class of 2000 and don't recall a water balloon fight other than at Sr picnic