Currently, close to half of all taxpayers enjoy an effective federal tax rate of 0%. In contrast, the top one percent of taxpayers contribute more federal income tax revenues than the bottom ninety percent of taxpayers combined. Should there be a minimum federal tax rate that all taxpayers should be required to pay? If so, how do you think that it should be calculated for different income levels?
In 2011, Barack Obama proposed the “Buffett Rule” tax plan (which was never implemented) which would have required that people making over one million dollars to pay no less than 30 percent of their income in taxes. Discuss this proposal in your analysis of minimum federal tax rates.