(Image source: The White House)

BY ZACH TOOMBS

It’s been talked about for months, but Wednesday marked the official Capitol Hill introduction for a proposed Buffett Rule — a law that would require millionaires to pay at least a 30 percent tax rate. Democratic Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse proposed the bill.

“With all the advantages that do come an enormous income, paying a lower tax rate than regular working families should not be one of those advantages.”

Investor Warren Buffett breathed life into the concept of a millionaire surtax last fall. But the bill’s official name, the Paying a Fair Share Act, borrows not too subtly from President Obama’s own language — much of it coming from last week’s State of the Union address.


“Fair shot...”

“Fair share...”

“Fair share of taxes...”

“Fair play...”

“Fair share of taxes...”

Republican Representative Paul Ryan provided a response to the president’s call for higher taxes on millionaires on Fox News Sunday, telling Chris Wallace the so-called Buffett Rule would only make a small dent in reducing the federal deficit.

“Let’s just look at the math. All these tax increases that the president’s talking about? They only cover 8 percent of his proposed spending increases. The other 92 percent of the nation’s spending increases are borrowed money.”

POLITICO notes, even if the bill doesn’t pass, it still highlights economic inequality — an issue that is sure to be an election year talking point for Democrats.

“Whitehouse’s legislation is almost certain to go nowhere in this Congress: Republicans generally abhor higher taxes and the Senate was unable to clear bills containing a millionaire’s surtax multiple times last year. But the bill could be a messaging tool for Democrats in this election year – particularly amid revelations that former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney paid an effective tax rate of 14 percent in 2010.”

But on CNN’s Out Front, Sen. Whitehouse says the bill was not a political maneuver, but rather a piece of legislation that has a chance of passing through Congress.

“If it has difficulty passing on its own, bear in mind that at the end of this year all of the Bush tax cuts expire, and that’s going to motivate everyone in Washington to rethink tax policy.”

On the Senate floor Wednesday, Whitehouse also noted that Americans making between $1 million and $2 million annually would be phased in to the 30 percent tax rate to avoid what he called “a tax cliff.” As of yet, no date is set for a vote on the legislation.