Mitch McConnell and John Boehner wish all you 30+ percent tax rate paying rubes a
Happy Tax Day. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
On Monday,
Democrats in the Senate voted to establish the Buffett Rule, making sure that people who make over $1 million a year would pay a minimum of 30 percent of their income in taxes. Of course, Republicans voted against it and the bill failed.
Majority support doesn't count at all for Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said:
"This entire debate has been very illuminating for a lot of folks," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. "It's revealed a lot about this president. By wasting so much time on this political gimmick that even Democrats admit won't solve our larger problems, it's shown the president is more interested in misleading people than he is in leading."
And:
"We have a president that seems more interested in pitting people against each other than he is in doing anything," said Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell.
Meanwhile, House Speaker John Boehner
opined (on Facebook! He's such man of the people):
"In fact, the 'Buffett Tax' hike touted by President Obama has been called everything from a 'sham' to a 'hoax' to 'total gimmickry.'"
And:
[T] he clash shows "who is listening to the American people and focusing on their priorities."
Unfortunately for these Republican leaders, Boehner was right about the vote showing who is paying attention to priorities. He's just got it backwards. Yesterday's CNN/ORC poll [pdf].
Would you favor or oppose a proposal to change the federal income tax rates so that people who make more than one million dollars a year will pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes?
Favor 72%
Oppose 27%
No opinion 1%