Most Millionaires Want Higher Taxes For Millionaires: Survey
This is a great article and I think that most of this counties wealthy that have a soul would agree;
Tax the rich, Warren Buffett says -- and a majority of millionaires agree.
According to a survey from the consulting firm Spectrem Group, sixty-eight percent of millionaires -- defined as people with investments of $1 million or more -- support raising taxes on people who earn $1 million or more in income, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The survey seems to reflect the sentiments of groups like Patriotic Millionaires, an organization of wealthy citizens that has urged the government to impose higher taxes on people like themselves. It also echoes the policy recommendations of President Obama, who has called for revisions to tax law that would levy a tax rate on millionaires at least as high as that experienced by middle-class earners.
And, of course, the survey hearkens back to Warren Buffett, the billionaire investor who galvanized a conversation about taxing the wealthy with a widely read New York Times Op-Ed this summer.
Spectrem's findings also seem to indicate that the grim state of the American economy -- where jobs are scarce, investment has fallen off and wages for most have flatlined -- hasn't escaped the notice of the country's more comfortable citizens.
The WSJ quotes Spectrem's George Walper as saying, "What this tells us is that there are a number of wealthy folks who said: 'Gee, we need to increase taxes to stimulate the economy. No one likes to be taxed more, but the reality is maybe it has to be done.'"
While some conservatives argue that higher taxes for the rich would discourage investment and slow economic growth, analysts have suggested that in fact this is not likely to happen. Historically, there is almost no correlation between high tax rates for the rich and a struggling national economy.
Earlier this month, a CBS News poll found that 64 percent of all Americans think millionaires should pay higher taxes -- a percentage nearly the same as the rate of millionaires in Spectrem's poll who feel the same way.
The debate over whether affluent Americans are insufficiently taxed comes during a moment when hundreds of thousands of people nationwide have taken to the streets under the banner of the Occupy movement, which is protesting, among other things, the vast income gap between the highest 1 percent of earners in the U.S. and the other 99 percent.
This week, the Congressional Budget Office released a report showing that income for the richest 1 percent of Americans grew by 275 percent between 1979 and 2007 -- compared with a rate of growth of just under 40 percent for most of the middle class. Last year, the median annual income for U.S. workers was $26,364 -- meaning that 50 percent of Americans who earn a paycheck make less than that.
Income inequality in America has risen to such levels that the country now ranks on par with China, Uganda, Rwanda, Serbia and Cote d'Ivoire in terms of the gap between its richest and poorest citizens.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/1...n_1035763.html
Millionaires Support Warren Buffett’s Tax on the Rich
More evidence that the republicans will pay for their flawed policy in 2012. Not raising taxes is a cornerstone of the republican party doctrine if they are destroyed on that point then they will be back at the drawing board. Here is reason why they will pay a heavy price in 2012;
Warren Buffett isn’t the only rich guy who wants to higher taxes on the rich.
A new survey from Spectrem Group found that 68% of millionaires (those with investments of $1 million or more) support raising taxes on those with $1 million or more in income. Fully 61% of those with net worths of $5 million or more support the tax on million-plus earners.
Buffett, as you might recall, has proposed raising taxes on million-plus earners, saying the ultra-rich pay lower rates than everyday workers.
Rich people’s opinions of Buffett remain fairly positive in the wake of his tax-me-more crusade. More than a third of millionaires and ultra-high-net-worths said they have a more positive opinion of Buffett after his tax proposal. Only 19% of millionaires and 22% of the $5 million -plus group said they had a more negative opinion of him after the proposal.
More than 40% of both groups said their opinion hadn’t changed.
In other words, Buffett’s proposal had more supporters than detractors among the rich — though that support declines slightly as you move up the wealth ladder.
Explains George Walper of Spectrem: “What this tells us is that there are a number of wealthy folks who said: ‘Gee, we need to increase taxes to stimulate the economy. No one likes to be taxed more, but the reality is maybe it has to be done.’ ”
Walper added that he was also surprised at the positive reactions to Buffett’s political agenda. “I thought that among this group there would be a feeling of ‘why doesn’t he keep his nose out of it?’”
As part of its survey, Spectrem Group also collected comments from the respondents. Here are a few highlights, from both the pro-Buffett and anti-Buffett camps:
PRO-BUFFETTS
“When you have someone who made four and a half billion pay fifteen percent, and because it’s a hedge fund, I have a problem with that.”
“Quite frankly if Warren Buffett gets taxed an extra fifty thousand dollars or your typical investor of two hundred and fifty [thousand] or larger has to pay an extra thousand dollars in tax; It’s not gonna change his lifestyle. Whatever he or she was gonna buy, he or she is gonna buy.”
““I think theoretically it would be good for this country and put some more money in the coffers, personally it wouldn’t be good for my family so I’m kind of at conflict between self interest and what might be good for the country.”
ANTI-BUFFETTS
““I think some of that spirit of America is lost when you start penalizing so to speak, the folks who have more.”
“I think there should be a voluntary check box on the tax form that says, if you would like to send in more please do.”
““For myself, if there were an increase in taxes, I’m probably gonna button up some spending.”
The survey and comments prove that the rich are not the monolithic, entirely self-serving group that is often portrayed in the media. They are just as divided as the rest of the country. And many are willing to pay more taxes.
Has your opinion of Buffett gotten better or worse after his tax idea?
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Millionaires Support Warren Buffett’s Tax on the Rich - The Wealth Report - WSJ
