Beginning early in his re-election campaign, President Obama began voicing his belief that our broken tax system and mounting deficit could be fixed — in part, at least – by asking the nation’s wealthiest taxpayer’s to pay their “fair share” of federal income tax. By eliminating preferences, deductions, and exclusions that primarily benefit the rich, the President argued that we could successfully employ a balanced approach towards deficit reduction: with part of the savings coming from spending cuts, while the other part would be generated from additional tax revenue garnered from America’s wealthiest two percent, i.e., those earning more than $250,000 annually.
The President’s proposal created quite a stir among country club types, begging the natural question: How much tax must a wealthy individual pay before they’ve paid their “fair share?”