WASHINGTON – White House hopeful Hillary Clinton on Monday called for a 4% “surcharge” tax on the wealthiest Americans, seeking to ensure that multimillionaires do not pay lower rates than middle-class families.
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A lot of the income from “the wealthy” that Hillary Clinton wants to zap with higher tax rates comes right from business profits.
Internal Revenue Service data show that the top 400 taxpayers who made an average income of $265 million in 2013 paid a 22.9 percent federal income tax rate, up from 16.7 percent in 2012, according to Bloomberg.
“Hillary Clinton’s estate tax hike would be a huge win for insurance companies”, Lee said in a statement provided to the Washington Free Beacon.
Those making more than $1 million will pay about 28% of their earnings in federal income and payroll taxes for 2015, according to estimates from the Tax Policy Center.
The proposal builds off the principle of the “Buffett Rule”, named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who campaigned with Clinton last month. It’s created to ensure those making more than $1 million pay an effective tax rate of at least 30%, after allowing for charitable contributions.
“Hillary is now the third Democrat presidential candidate to call for raising taxes on “the rich.’ Bill Clinton and Barack Obama said the same and immediately pivoted to raising taxes on the middle class. Bill taxed gasoline, and Obama imposed seven Obamacare taxes on the middle class. Hillary’s promise to raise taxes on ‘the rich” is only the first part of the sentence: She left out I will raise taxes on the rich….first…then you”.
Under current law, estates worth less than $5.45 million per person, or $10.9 million per married couple, are exempt from the 40 percent estate tax. Such trusts offer tax advantages, in which any increase in the house’s value can be excluded from the Clinton’s taxable estate.
Her class warfare attacks are further evidence that Clinton has been scared by the challenge on the left from Bernie Sanders, who wants a 90% tax rate in the interest of “fairness”.
Several hedge fund managers have established Bermuda reinsurers with a primary focus on managing investments and have derived tax benefits on investment gains as a result. In either case, that is well below the 39.6% top rate high-income individuals pay now on their salaries.
Our corporate income tax rate is now 35%, in contrast to an average of about 25% for our major competitors.
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Additionally, by ending egregious loopholes, her plan would shut down the so-called “private tax system” where tax lawyers and personal accountants help multi-millionaires shelter their income and avoid USA taxes.
