Open Thread: The Complications and Misinformation of the 'Buffett Rule

September 21st, 2011 11:44 AM
As NewsBusters reported yesterday, Warren Buffett has spent years campaigning with the liberal media to raise taxes on the rich. Buffett has found an ally in President Obama to implement the "Buffett rule," a complicated and misinformed proposal that would raise taxes even more on the wealthy. As explained by the Tax Foundation: During his Rose Garden speech [Monday], President Obama once…

Albany Times Union: Obama Tax Hikes Not Class Warfare, Just ‘Fairne

September 21st, 2011 1:11 AM
It’s good to see the editorial board at the Times Union isn’t even bothering to mask their liberal bias these days.  Via a blog known as The Observation Deck, which boasts some of the more prominent members of the newspapers staff, including editor and vice-president, Rex Smith, editor-at-large, Harry Rosenfeld, and publisher George R. Hearst III, the Union has been printing some of the most…

MSNBC's Bashir Suggests Founding Fathers Would Favor Obama's Push for

September 20th, 2011 5:12 PM
British-born MSNBC afternoon anchor Martin Bashir devoted his September 20 "Clear the Air" commentary to clouding the issue of raising taxes by citing the clause in Article I, Section 9 of the U.S. Constitution's that bans Congress from granting titles of nobility (video follows page break):

Buttressing Buffett: For 10 Years, the Liberal Media Championed Billio

September 20th, 2011 3:52 PM
President Barack Obama's nicknaming his new tax increases on the wealthy the "Warren Buffett rule" is fitting since the billionaire has spent a decade campaigning for a tax hike, a campaign his friends in the liberal media have been more than willing to join. For over 10 years the media promoted Buffett's complaint that the wealthy in America don't pay enough in taxes, spurred on by a Buffett's…

MSNBC's Craig Melvin to Sen. Barrasso: Isn't GOP 'Out of Step' with Vo

September 20th, 2011 12:33 PM
New MSNBC daytime host Craig Melvin is quickly adapting to the network's liberal ethos. Melvin, who was hired this summer from Washington, D.C. NBC station WRC-TV, pressed Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) from the left in an interview shortly after noon today about Republican opposition to President Obama's call for tax hikes on higher income earners. [video follows page break]

Scarborough Falsely Claims 'The Average Millionaire-Billionaire Pays E

September 20th, 2011 11:36 AM
Hours after NewsBusters debunked the myth about the rich paying less taxes as a percent of income than lower earners, and minutes before the Associated Press confirmed our figures, Joe Scarborough said Tuesday, "The average millionaire-billionaire pays eighteen percent in taxes in America." Going completely contrary to actual Internal Revenue Service data released weeks ago, the "Morning Joe…

WashPost's 'On Faith' Pounds Pulpit for Tax Hikes on 'The Wealthy

September 20th, 2011 11:06 AM
The Washington Post religion page is thundering from the pulpit again, preaching to the liberal choir on the godliness of higher taxes. In "It's not 'class warfare,' it's Christianity,"  "On Faith" contributor and liberal theologian Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite defends President Obama's call for tax hikes on top income earners, arguing in essence that President Obama is helping us all be…

ABC Trumpets ‘Fairness’ of Obama’s ‘Buffett Rule’ Tax Hike Q

September 20th, 2011 8:43 AM
“President Obama has declared it is time to take action on taxes because people in the middle class are paying a larger percentage of income tax than the super-rich,” ABC anchor Diane Sawyer announced Monday night without bothering to note, as neither did CBS nor NBC, that the super-rich are already paying a disproportionate share of income taxes. ABC reporter Bianna Golodryga, who is…

Media Myth Debunked: Millionaires Don't Pay Less Tax as Percent of Inc

September 19th, 2011 10:14 PM
As President Obama trots out his new "Buffett Rule" to raise taxes on millionaires, the media are predictably assisting his efforts by spreading misinformation about the wealthy paying less taxes than lower wage earners as a percent of income. 2009 tax figures recently released by the Internal Revenue Service thoroughly refute this assertion:

David Gregory Whines: If GOP Doesn't Agree to Tax Hikes, 'Mired' Washi

September 19th, 2011 5:12 PM
Talking to "Meet the Press" moderator David Gregory on Sunday's NBC Today, co-host Jenna Wolfe asked about President Obama's proposed "Buffet Rule," designed to increases taxes on the rich, which she assumed "will sit well with the American people overall." David Gregory agreed but lamented: "...the President's got to think about what he can do to actually get some agreement with Republicans…

CNN: Every 'Serious' Budget Expert Says 'Taxes Must Go Up

September 19th, 2011 4:45 PM
CNN business correspondent Christine Romans claimed Monday that "any serious budget expert's analysis" concludes that taxes must increase. During CNN's coverage of President Obama's address concerning his deficit reduction plan, Romans asked not if, but when Republicans should get on board with his proposals. "So at what point do Republicans say, okay, we agree that taxes have to go up, and…

Voluntary Taxes? Obama Will 'Ask the Rich' to Pay More, Claims New Yor

September 19th, 2011 2:15 PM
Sunday’s lead New York Times story by White House correspondent Jackie Calmes pushed the president’s new plan to raise taxes on “the wealthy.” The president, in what the Times seems to think is a bright idea, is calling his proposal the “Buffett rule,” after the billionaire who made waves with his complaint, printed in the Times, that uber-wealthy investors like him were not being taxed enough…

Will Arrogant Obama Quote ('It's Math') Get Relayed Widely

September 19th, 2011 12:52 PM
It will be interesting to see if a quote noted at the end of Jim Kuhnhenn's early Associated Press report about the President Obama's proposed tax increases (saved here for future reference, fair use and discussion purposes) makes the cut in later revisions. I'll bet not, because it sends both the arrogance and ignorance meters well into the red. This post will look at the first and third…

Chuck Todd Laughs When Asked If Obama Thinks His New Tax Plan Is A 'Re

September 19th, 2011 10:38 AM
Even Chuck Todd thinks President Obama's new tax plan is a joke. When asked on MSNBC Monday if the White House believes "tax reform in the context of the Super Committee is a realistic goal," NBC's chief White House correspondent broke out laughing followed by the entire "Morning Joe" panel (video follows with transcript and commentary):