English subtitles for clip: File:President Obama Speaks on the Buffett Rule.webm

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[applause]

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>> The President:
Well, it's wonderful
to see you --

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[baby crying]

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Especially you!

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[laughter]

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Oh man, I know.

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[laughter]

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Having to listen to a speech!

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[laughter]

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Yes!

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[baby crying]

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Awww.

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Anyway, good morning, everybody.

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It is wonderful to see you.

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Lately, we've been talking about
the fundamental choice that we

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face as a country.

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We can settle for an economy
where a shrinking number of

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people do very, very well and
everybody else is struggling to

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get by, or we can build an
economy where we're rewarding

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hard work and responsibility -- an economy where everybody has a

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fair shot, and everybody
is doing their fair share,

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and everybody is playing
by the same set of rules.

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The people who have
joined me here today are

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extremely successful.

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They've created jobs and
opportunity for thousands

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of Americans.

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They're rightly proud
of their success.

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They love the country that
made their success possible,

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and most importantly, they
want to make sure that the next

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generation, people
coming up behind them,

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have the same opportunities
that they had.

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They understand, though,
that for some time now,

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when compared to
the middle class,

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they haven't been asked
to do their fair share.

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And they are here because they
believe there is something

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deeply wrong and
irresponsible about that.

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At a time when the share of
national income flowing to the

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top 1 percent of people in this
country has climbed to levels we

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haven't seen since the 1920s,
these same folks are paying

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taxes at one of the
lowest rates in 50 years.

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In fact, one in four
millionaires pays a lower tax

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rate than millions
of hardworking

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middle-class households.

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And while many millionaires
do pay their fair share,

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some take advantage of loopholes
and shelters that let them get

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away with paying no
income taxes whatsoever --

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and that's all perfectly
legal under the system that we

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currently have.

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You've heard that my friend
Warren Buffett pays a lower tax

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rate than his secretary -- because he's the one who's been

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pointing that out and
saying we should fix it.

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The executives who are
with me here today,

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not just behind me but in
the audience, agree with me.

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They agree with Warren
-- they should be fixed.

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They, in fact, have brought some
of their own assistants to prove

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that same point -- that it
is just plain wrong that

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middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in

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taxes than some millionaires
and billionaires.

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Now, it's not that these folks
are excited about the idea of

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paying more taxes.

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This thing I've
always made clear.

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[laughter]

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I have yet to meet people
who just love taxes.

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Nobody loves paying taxes.

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In a perfect world, none of us
would have to pay any taxes.

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We'd have no
deficits to pay down.

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And schools and bridges and
roads and national defense and

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caring for our veterans
would all happen magically.

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We'd all have the money we
need to make investments in the

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things that help us grow
-- investments, by the way,

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that have always been essential
to the private sector's success,

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as well, not just -- they're not
just important in terms of the

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people that directly
benefit from these programs,

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but historically, those
investments that we've made in

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infrastructure, in education,
in science, in technology,

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in transportation, that's
part of what has made us an

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economic superpower.

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And it would be nice if we
didn't have to pay for them,

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but this is the real
world that we live in.

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We have real choices
and real consequences.

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Right now, we've got significant
deficits that are going to have

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to be closed.

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Right now, we have significant
needs if we want to continue to

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grow this economy and
compete in this 21st-century,

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hyper-competitive,
technologically-integrated

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economy.

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That means we can't afford to
keep spending more money on tax

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cuts for wealthy Americans who
don't need them and weren't even

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asking for them.

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And it's time we did
something about it.

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Now, I want to emphasize,
this is not simply an issue of

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redistributing wealth.

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That's what you'll hear from
those who object to a tax plan

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that is fair.

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This is not just about fairness.

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This is also about growth.

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This is also about being able
to make the investments we need

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to succeed.

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And it's about we as a country
being willing to pay for those

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investments and
closing our deficits.

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That's what this is about.

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Now, next week, members of
Congress are going to have a

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chance to vote on what
we call the Buffett Rule.

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And it's simple: If
you make more money --

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more than $1 million a year,
not if you have $1 million,

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but if you make more
than $1 million a year,

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you should pay at least the same
percentage of your income in

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taxes as middle-class
families do.

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If on the other hand, you make
less than $250,000 a year --

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like 98% of American families do -- your taxes shouldn't go up.

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That's all there is to it.

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That's pretty sensible.

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Most Americans agree with
me, so do most millionaires.

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One survey found that
two-thirds of millionaires

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support this idea.

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So do nearly half of all
Republicans across America.

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So we just need some of the
Republican politicians here in

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Washington to get on board
with where the country is.

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I know that some prefer to run
around using the same reflexive,

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false claims about wanting
to raise people's taxes.

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What they won't tell
you is the truth --

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that I've cut taxes for
middle-class families each year

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that I've been in office.

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I've cut taxes for small
business owners not once or

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twice, but 17 times.

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As I said, for most of
the folks in this room,

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taxes are lower than they've
been, or as low as they've been,

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in 50 years.

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There are others who are saying,
well, this is just a gimmick.

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Just taxing millionaires
and billionaires,

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just imposing the Buffett
Rule won't do enough to close

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the deficit.

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Well, I agree.

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That's not all we have to
do to close the deficit.

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But the notion that it doesn't
solve the entire problem doesn't

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mean that we shouldn't
do it at all.

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There are enough excuses
for inaction in Washington.

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We certainly don't
need more excuses.

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I'd just point out that the
Buffett Rule is something that

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will get us moving in the right
direction towards fairness,

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towards economic growth.

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It will help us close our
deficit and it's a lot more

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specific than anything that the
other side has proposed so far.

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And if Republicans in Congress
were truly concerned with

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deficits and debt, then I'm
assuming they wouldn't have just

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proposed to spend an additional
$4.6 trillion on lower tax

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rates, including an
average tax cut of at least

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$150,000 for every
millionaire in America.

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They want to go in the
opposite direction.

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They want to double down on some
of the inequities that already

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exist in the tax code.

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If we're going to keep giving
somebody like me or some of the

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people in this room tax breaks
that we don't need and we can't

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afford, then one of
two things happens:

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Either you've got to borrow
more money to pay down a deeper

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deficit, or you've got to demand
deeper sacrifices from the

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middle class, and you've got
to cut investments that help us

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grow as an economy.

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You've got to tell seniors
to pay a little bit more for

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their Medicare.

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You've got to tell
the college student,

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we're going to have to charge
you higher interest rates on

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your student loan or you're
just going to get smaller

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student loans.

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You're going to have to tell
that working family that's

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scraping by that they're going
to have to do more because the

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wealthiest of Americans
are doing less.

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That's not right.

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The middle class has seen enough
of its security erode over the

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past few decades that we
shouldn't let that happen.

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And we're not going to stop
investing in the things that

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create real and lasting growth
in this country just so folks

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like me can get an
additional tax cut.

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We're not going to stop building
first-class schools and making

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sure that they've got
science labs in them.

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We're not going to fail to make
investments in basic science and

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research that could cure
diseases that harm people,

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or create the new technology
that ends up creating entire

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jobs and industries that
we haven't seen before.

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In America, prosperity has
never just trickled down from a

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wealthy few.

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Prosperity has always been built
from the bottom up and from the

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heart of the middle
class outward.

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And so it's time for Congress
to stand up for the middle class

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and make our tax system fairer
by passing this Buffett Rule.

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Let me just close
by saying this.

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I'm not the first President
to call for this idea that

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everybody has got to
do their fair share.

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Some years ago, one of my
predecessors traveled across the

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country pushing for
the same concept.

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He gave a speech where he talked
about a letter he had received

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from a wealthy executive who
paid lower tax rates than his

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secretary, and wanted to come to
Washington and tell Congress why

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that was wrong.

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So this President gave another
speech where he said it was

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"crazy" -- that's a quote -- that certain tax loopholes make

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it possible for multimillionaires to pay

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nothing, while a bus driver
was paying 10% of his salary.

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That wild-eyed, socialist,
tax-hiking class warrior was

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Ronald Reagan.

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He thought that, in America, the
wealthiest should pay their fair

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share, and he said so.

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I know that position might
disqualify him from the

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Republican primaries
these days --

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[laughter]

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-- but what Ronald Reagan was
calling for then is the same

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thing that we're
calling for now:

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a return to basic fairness
and responsibility;

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everybody doing their part.

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And if it will help convince
folks in Congress to make the

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right choice, we could call it
the Reagan Rule instead of the

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Buffett Rule.

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But the choice is clear.

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This vote is coming up.

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I'm asking every American who
agrees with me to call your

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member of Congress, or write
them an email, tweet them.

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Tell them to stop giving
tax breaks to the wealthiest

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Americans who don't need them
and aren't asking for them.

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Tell them to start asking
everybody to do their fair share

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and play by the same rules,
so that every American who's

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willing to work hard has a
chance at similar success,

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so that we're making the
investments that help this

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economy grow, so that we're able
to bring down our deficits in a

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fair and balanced
and sensible way.

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Tell them to pass
the Buffett Rule.

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I'm going to keep on making this
case across the country because

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I believe that this rule is
consistent with those principles

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and those values that have
helped make us this remarkable

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place where everybody
has opportunity.

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Now, each of us is only here
because somebody, somewhere,

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felt responsibility not
only for themselves,

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but also for their community
and for their country.

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They felt a responsibility
to us, to future generations.

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And now it's our turn to
be similarly responsible.

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Now it's our turn to preserve
that American Dream for

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future generations.

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So I want to thank those of
you who are here with me today.

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I want to thank everybody
who is in the audience.

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And I want to appeal
to the American people:

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Let's make sure that we keep
the pressure on Congress to do

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the right thing.

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Thank you very much, everybody.

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00:12:30,700 --> 00:12:32,030
[applause]