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Congressman Lynn Westmoreland signs on to cosponsor H.R. 3099, the Buffet Rule Act. This legislation would instruct the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to provide a checkbox line on tax return forms to allow those who would prefer to pay additional income tax to do so. The bill is named after billionaire Warren Buffett after his repeated complaints during interviews that the federal government should “stop coddling the rich” and require them to pay an even higher income tax rate than they already do. H.R. 3099 has been referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. Below is Congressman Westmoreland’s statement.
“If Warren Buffett thinks he doesn’t pay enough in taxes, then he is more than welcome to pay more. That’s why I cosponsored H.R. 3099. If there are people out there, like Mr. Buffett, who are willing and able to pay more than their fair share of taxes, then I want to give them that opportunity.
“Unfortunately, I don’t think Mr. Buffett’s generosity would make much of a difference because we don’t have a revenue problem in this country; we have a spending problem. In fact, if Mr. Buffett – the third richest man in the United States – donated his entire net worth of $47 billion to the Treasury Department, he would not even be able to cover the interest owed on our debt for July, August, and September of 2011.
“Sending more money to Washington is not the answer to the federal government’s fiscal problems. We have got to get our spending under control and change the mindset many in Washington have that government is the answer to all problems. But until that happens, I’m happy to take as much of Mr. Buffett’s money as he would like to give,” stated Westmoreland.