GOP vs DOPE...

Pay attention to how the MainStreamMedia portrays the vote on the "Buffet Rule":

CNN

Republicans, as expected, garnered enough support to reject Democrats' attempt to bring up the proposal for debate. The Democrats fell nine votes short. (The Sentate is 53 to 47, the Republicans didn't 'garner support' they voted Republican)

The bill would impose a minimum 30% effective federal tax rate on those with adjusted gross incomes above $1 million, although it phases in for those making between $1 million and $2 million. (No mention of the reason Republicans voted against it - that one group's idea of  'fairness' doesn't solve any economic problems)

Taxpayers subject to the Buffett Rule would still get a break for charitable deductions and could count both the income and payroll taxes they paid when calculating what they would owe under the Buffett Rule.  (Sounds friendly - why wouldn't the mean millionairs favor this? Do they hate charity?)

Democratic lawmakers argued the Buffett Rule would be a step toward fairness because it would ensure that no one earning more than $1 million ends up paying a lower effective federal tax rate than anyone in the middle class. (And this country was founded on what some people thought was 'fair'?)

If passed, the rule would ensure that millionaires "pay a fair share no matter what loopholes or special treatment lawmakers add to the code in the future," said Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat who introduced the bill.  (Lawmakers - isn't the Senate the lawmakers?  If they are changing the rules now, can't they just change them later - who voted for this lady...oh, Sheldon is a guy?)

 

MSNBC:

Democrats have tried to use the alleged unfairness of the tax code as a campaign weapon against GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who paid federal income tax of $3.2 million on income of nearly $21 million in 2011, for an effective tax rate of 15 percent. Much of Romney’s income came from capital gains on his investments. Capital gains are taxed at 15 percent, while the top marginal tax rate on earned income is 35 percent. (This is not fair, the Government only got 3.2 million dollars out of Romney's pile - which was a pile of money that had already been taxed several ways)

IN FAIRNESS, MSNBC also said this (in the 11th and 12th paragraphs):

According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, in 2011 taxpayers in the top one percent of the income distribution paid, on average, 24 percent of their income in federal incomes taxes. Taxpayers in the middle quintile of the income distribution paid, on average, 4.1 percent of their adjusted gross income in federal income taxes.

Whitehouse said on the Senate floor Monday that his bill would “restore some fairness to our tax system” and counteract what he called the “glaring tax inequity” of taxpayers such as Buffett, most of whose income comes from investments, paying a lower effective tax rate than people who earn most or all of their income from wages or salaries. (Uh, did Mr. Whitehouse read the previous paragraph? Reality matters.)