Citizens for Tax Justice, The Need for the “Buffett Rule”: How Millionaire Investors Pay a Lower Rate than Middle-Class Workers:

This report shows why the Buffett Rule is sorely needed:

• The federal tax system taxes income from work at a much higher rate than income from wealth.
• Buffett’s effective tax rate of 17.4% is typical of taxpayers with $10 million or more of investment income.
• Buffett’s claim that his secretary pays about 30% of her income in federal taxes is not only plausible, but very likely.
• News stories, reports, and blogs that focus only on the amount of federal income tax paid by highincome taxpayers are omitting the substantial amount of payroll taxes that workers pay.
• Critics of the Buffett Rule who cite data showing that the average effective tax rate for the wealthy is higher than the average effective rate for the middle class miss the point of the Buffett Rule.