Taxing+the+Rich

=Taxing the Rich-=

Link to the Speak Out: Should Kim Kardashian Pay More in Taxes?

Should Kim Kardashian pay more taxes?

//By Jeremy Quattlebaum, Student Voices staff writer//

“Being on TV changed my life,” quips Kim Kardashian on a YouTube video, “because I get lots of free stuff!”

Kardashian’s claim starts off a video that campaigns to raise the tax rate for multimillionaires in California. Claiming that Kardashian made over $12 million in 2010 and paid only 1 percent more in taxes than the average Californian who makes $47,000 a year, the video makes the argument that millionaires should pay more taxes to pay for vital services like education and emergency responders.

“We are not judging Miss Kardashian, we are just making a very simple point,” Rick Jacobs, the chairman and founder of Courage Campaign, told ABC News. “It isn’t fair or appropriate for someone who makes that kind of money to pay the essentially the same tax rate as someone who makes $47,000 a year. It doesn’t make any sense.”

The tax, the makers of the video are arguing, could be a ballot initiative in California’s November election.

The “millionaires tax” is not just a California thing either. It has become a national discussion with polar opposites like America’s richest man, Warren Buffett, and the Occupy Movement both claiming that the top 1 percent of Americans should pay more in taxes.

Proponents of increasing the tax burden on the super wealthy argue that they are not paying their fair share of taxes and that the tax would curb the rising income inequity that has been increasing over the past decade.

The president even made statements about increasing the tax burden for the ultra-rich in the 2012 State of the Union. Obama said, “Right now, we're poised to spend nearly $1 trillion more on what was supposed to be a temporary tax break for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Right now, because of loopholes and shelters in the tax code, a quarter of all millionaires pay lower tax rates than millions of middle-class households. Right now, Warren Buffett pays a lower tax rate than his secretary.”

But most millionaires and billionaires are against the idea. Republican presidential aspirant Mitt Romney argues that increasing taxes for the wealthy is essentially punishing people for being successful and that the tax would hurt successful small- and medium-sized businesses that are creating jobs.

"I believe in a merit nation, an opportunity nation where people by virtue of their education, their hard work and risk taking and their dreams – maybe a little luck – could achieve great things," Romney said at a campaign rally in Florida.

**What do you think?**

Should millionaires have to pay a higher percentage in taxes than middle-class taxpayers? Would the tax punish hardworking and successful people as Mitt Romney claims? Join the discussion and let us know what you think!