The Senate agreed to line the pockets of the rich this week as the so-called Buffett Rule was blocked by a Republican filibuster. Despite a 51 to 45 vote in favor of the rule, Democrats were not able to gain the 60 votes necessary to invoke cloture and move the rule to an official vote.

Though the Buffet Rule itself would have added little to the overall deficit reduction strategy Congress must pass in the coming years to sustain our fragile economy, it does underscore the adamant stance conservatives have taken to keep making the rich richer.

The 22,000 households that made more than $1 million in 2009 paid less than 15 percent of their income in income taxes, and 1,470 managed to pay no federal income taxes at all, according to an IRS estimate. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney paid an effective tax rate of only 13.9 percent on $22 million of income.

While these high income earners are able to receive various tax breaks, the middle 20 percent of earners are paying an average of 15.9 percent of their income on federal taxes. The fact lower earners are paying a higher percentage of their incomes toward taxes is simply an unfair way to divide up this responsibility among our citizens.

Republican Sen. John Thune of South Dakota rebutted, correctly saying that by raising the tax rate on top earners, the Buffet Rule would have only raised $47 billion during the next 10 years. That’s a minuscule fraction of our $7 trillion budget this year.

But Thune also said a $363 million bill to fund Planned Parenthood was too much for our budget. ‘The broader debate about funding for Planned Parenthood is not just ideological, it is a funding issue. … Over $300 million dollars a year in taxpayer funds,’ Thune said last year. ‘$363 million dollars a year to Planned Parenthood. Ahh, that’s a lot!’

To put it more clearly, Thune wants to cut government spending by depriving women access to mammograms and birth control to save $363 million, but not by raising taxes on millionaires and billionaires to net $47 billion.

This example underscores the severe disconnect between what conservatives champion and what average Americans want. A CNN report showed 72 percent of Americans support the Buffett Rule, including 53 percent of Republicans. Still, only one Republican senator voted for the rule, while all others voted down party lines and against their constituents.

Though the revenues may have been insubstantial, the vote on the tax code demonstrates how conservatives refuse to negotiate on bipartisan legislation that can actually have a meaningful effect on the nation’s deficit. A Democratic deficit reduction plan that was advanced last year by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would not only have reduced the budget deficit by $4.1 trillion, but it would have also done so through a 6-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases. Conceding to cut discretionary spending while raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans would seem like a fair compromise for both sides of the aisle.

Instead, Republicans will bring a different bill to a vote later this year, which plans to cut the tax rate on businesses with less than 500 employees by 20 percent.

While this sounds great on the surface, the bill written by Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia is drawn so that more than half of those who benefit from the bill would be the high earners of the companies and not the companies themselves. Because of ‘pass through’ entities like Limited Liability Corporations, the Tax Policy Center says the proposal will cut taxes for those earning more than $1 million rather than spur growth for small businesses.

While Democrats continue to fight for a fair tax code and one a majority of voters actually want, Republicans continue to fight for the wealthiest Americans under the guise of spurring the economy.

Though the Buffett Rule may not have been the absolute solution to the nation’s deficit problems, its failure clearly demonstrates whose side their legislators are fighting for.

Stephen Fox is a graduate student studying for his master’s degree in entrepreneurship and a graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. His columns appear weekly. He can be reached at smfox03@syr.edu.    

Published on April 20, 2012 at 12:00 pm