House Passes Scalise Buffett Rule Act

Washington, D.C. – Congressman Steve Scalise’s Buffett Rule Act passed the House of Representatives unanimously today. Scalise’s bill adds an optional check box to IRS filing forms allowing people to donate above and beyond their tax liability to pay down the national debt. The bill is named in honor of billionaire Warren Buffett who has repeatedly said that he doesn’t pay enough in taxes.

“The President keeps insisting that he wants to raise taxes on hard-working families and small businesses, and has used Warren Buffett as the poster-child for his class warfare scheme because Buffett complains that he doesn’t pay enough in taxes,” Scalise said. “If Warren Buffett and others like him truly feel they're not paying enough in taxes, they can use the Buffett Rule Act to put their money where their mouth is and voluntarily send in more to pay down the national debt, rather than changing the entire tax code to inflict more job-killing tax hikes on hard-working Americans. The Buffett Rule Act is a common sense alternative to President Obama’s divisive class warfare calls for higher taxes, and it allows Warren Buffett and others like him to voluntarily donate more of their money to pay down our national debt if that is what they’re really interested in doing.

“Even President Obama has admitted that higher taxes will hurt our struggling economy, and most Americans agree that higher taxes would likely be used to fund even more wasteful Washington spending. The problem we’re having in America is not that we are taxed too little, it’s that Washington is spending too much, and you don't solve that problem by sending Washington even more money to spend in the form of job-killing tax hikes.”

The voluntary check box created by the Buffett Rule Act would read: “By checking here, I signify that in addition to my tax liability (if any), I would like to donate the included payment to be used exclusively for the purpose of paying down the national debt.”