Labor & Employment Law

Warren Buffet: Don?t Extend Bush Tax Cuts to the Wealthy

By Tula Connell

 Bazillionaires, listen up to one of your own!

While millionaires and billionaires are whining that the Bush-era tax cut to the rich?those who make more than $250,000 a year?should be extended, one of America’s wealthiest men says: NOT. 

In an interview with multibillionaire Warren Buffet set for broadcast Thanksgiving day, Christine Amanpour repeats the Wall Street line about why Congress should extend the tax cuts for the rich before they expire next year.

They say you have to keep those tax cuts, even on the very wealthy, because that is what energizes business and capitalism.  

To which Buffet replies:

The rich are always going to say that, you know, just give us more money and we’ll go out and spend more and then it will all trickle down to the rest of you. But that has not worked the last 10 years, and I hope the American public is catching on.

The American people have caught on?but what about Congress? Republicans on Capitol Hill want to extend the tax cuts for those making more than $250,000 or more a year. President Obama and most congressional Democrats want to extend the cuts for middle- and lower-income families, but not for those making $250,000 or more.

Congress has only a few days left during this “lame-duck” session, and as AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says, lawmakers should not compromise on this issue but vote to end tax cuts for the rich and extend tax cuts for the rest of us.

The election is over and now it?s time for politicians to show courage and stand and fight on these issues for working families. Let the millionaires fend for themselves for a change.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on November 22, 2010 (boomark / email).