Dick Durbin: “Most of us have heard the name Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in America. He raised the question a few years…”

“Most of us have heard the name Warren Buffett, one of the wealthiest men in America. He raised the question a few years ago: Why, in America, is my income tax rate as a multimillionaire lower than my secretary's income tax rate? There is an explanation in the Tax Code, but it isn't a very good one. Warren Buffett said I should be paying more than she is paying. So we have come up with something called the Buffet rule, which says if you are in the multimillionaire category, you are going to pay a higher income tax rate than your secretary. What a radical idea that is. I am just kidding. I think it is reasonable, and that is how we pay for refinancing college loans. The problem is that we go to the other side of the aisle and say: We want to refinance college loans. It is going to take some money to do it. We will put in the Buffett rule so millionaires pay more in their income taxes. They say: We don't want any part of it. We will not increase taxes on anybody. Well, by taking that position, they are sticking 44 million Americans with college loan debt at higher interest rates and all the problems they generate. Which is better, that millionaires pay a little more so working families across America have a fair shot of paying off their college loans or saying we are not going to touch the Tax Code for any reason whatsoever--and isn't it a darn shame for these students and their families. Well, it is pretty obvious to me what we should be doing.…”