Make the rich pay their fair share

In this time of tight budgets and tough choices, and with income-tax-filing day this Tueday, too many Rhode Islanders are feeling squeezed. To make matters worse, they’re hearing about people making over $1 million a year who are actually paying a lower total federal tax rate than they are. That’s just wrong. Americans deserve a straight deal, but when it comes to taxes, they’re not getting one.

Just look at Warren Buffett, a billionaire investor who has famously revealed that he pays a lower federal tax rate than his secretary does. Mr. Buffett has joined President Obama in calling for a correction to this problem, writing last year that “my friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It’s time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.”

I agree with Mr. Buffett and with the Rhode Islanders I’ve heard from who are fed up with our unfair system. That is why I am fighting to address loopholes in the tax code that let super-high-income Americans pay lower tax rates than hard-working middle-class Rhode Island families. The Paying a Fair Share Act of 2012, which I recently introduced, would ensure that multimillion-dollar earners pay a minimum federal tax rate of 30 percent.