For almost a year now, the President has touted what has come to be called the "Buffett Rule" -- essentially another Alternative Minimum Tax on high income households. With soaring rhetoric he has said that the choice is between lowering budget deficits and "tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires". As usual rhetoric and facts don't mesh. This week the Joint Committee on Taxation announced that the Buffett Rule would generate -- wait for it -- drum roll -- $3 Billion per year in additional tax revenue. To put this in perspective as a deficit solution, that $3 billion per year amounts to:
- 0.23% of the FY2012 deficit
- 0.31% of the FY2013 deficit
- 0.43% of the FY2014 deficit
- 0.56% of the FY2015 deficit
- 0.57% of the FY2016 deficit
In other words, this is all about political posturing, and almost nothing to do with deficit reduction. It's right up there with the President's suggestion for reducing gasoline prices: check your tires and get a tune-up.
If the President could have collected a dollar for every mention of the Buffett Rule he generated, that would have far more impact on the Federal deficit than the rule itself.
