Okay, I'm not. But...
I remember my time as an assistant to John H., Operations Manager at a small credit union. John is an ambitious, hard-working, cool nerd; I liked working for John.
One time he asked me to copy his taxes; I peaked, the cool nerd had a six figure income and I suddenly became a little bitter he had only given me a $50 Starbucks gift card for Christmas (which I mostly spent buying his coffee, every assistant knows bosses hardly ever pay back for coffee and lunches). I don’t know what his tax rate was but every time I hear the Buffet Rule, I know the Johns of our nation need to pay more.
As the Operations Manager, John frequently visited the credit union branches, so he got a company car. He needed access to his emails, so his Blackberry was paid for. On these frequent branch visits, he took the branch manager to lunch, a working lunch he was reimbursed for and he never went to McDonald’s.
I hated math as a child but as an adult, I appreciate my knowledge of simple arithmetic.
The John’s of the world must pay more. Here’s why. On a monthly basis, I spend this munch on:
Car payment - $ 350.00
Car Insurance - $ 120.00
Gas & Tolls - $ 150.00
Cell Phone - $ 80.00
Home Internet - $ 50.00
If I went out for lunch 3x/week - $ 100.00
Total - $ 850.00
Because John used his cell phone to call the office, he got his entire cell phone bill paid for. I could only afford the cheapest phone/data plan. Because he drove the company car, he didn’t pay the insurance, gas, or maintenance of the vehicle, and aside from driving it home, he used it on the weekends and got reimbursed for tolls. And although he had his Blackberry, he got his home internet paid for because straining his eyes to read his emails on his Blackberry was not happening.
If I were reimbursed $ 850.00 a month, hell I’d be a homeowner and my student loans would have been paid for long ago. Plus at the time, $ 850.00 was just $ 75.00 shy of my two-week paycheck.
I’ve moved on from the credit union but everywhere I’ve been, it’s the same and the perks only get bigger and better. This is why the 1% really needs to pay more than Warren Buffet’s secretary.
Disclaimer: I don't know the tax system.