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the Buffett rule applies ??? The Buffett rule gained that name, when the philanthropically inclined multi-billionaire US investor Warren Buffett, discovered he was paying less in income tax than the middle-income staff he employed. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-to-slap-new-minimum-tax-rate-on-the-super-wealthy-20150724-gijnqq.html#ixzz3go15XaiO Wealthy Australians earning above $300,000 per year could be hit with a new minimum income tax rate under a Shorten Labor government after the ALP agreed to consider implementing the so-called "Buffett rule" for the first time. Mr Albanese told Labor's National Conference in Melbourne, that the Australian Taxation Office had found in 2011-12, that 75 Australians earning more than $1 million a year, had paid no tax at all. He said the combined annual incomes of those millionaires was $195 million, but through elaborate accounting tricks, the super-rich 75 had been required to stump up just $82, in total. "That's a disgrace in a nation where Tory governments are ravaging services with spending cuts and demanding higher regressive taxation through an increase in the GST," he said. The idea of a minimum deduction has previously been floated by South Australian Labor Premier Jay Weatherill, who drew on modelling showing it could raise as much as $2.5 billion a year. .......... .......... ........ ........... .......... ........... What is the 'Buffett rule'? According to the White House, the "Buffett rule" is the "basic principle that no household making over $1 million annually should pay a smaller share of their income in taxes than middle-class families pay". Named after US businessman and billionaire Warren Buffett, who famously stated that he shouldn't be paying a lower income tax rate than his secretary. Stemming from this principle, President Barack Obama proposed that no millionaire pay less than 30 per cent tax. In 2009, 22,000 US households making more than $1 million paid less than 15 per cent and 1470 paid no federal income tax at all. The average tax rate paid by high-income earners in the US is the lowest in 50 years. This tax minimisation is achieved through concessions and lower rates for income from investments. A Democratic Party attempt to pass the "Buffett rule" into law failed in Congress, opposed by Senate Republicans. The proposal appeared again in February this year, as part of Obama's budget plan, but faces even stiffer opposition as Republicans now control both houses of Congress. An April 2012 poll found 60 per cent support for the "Buffett rule" and 37 per cent opposition. Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/labor-to-slap-new-minimum-tax-rate-on-the-super-wealthy-20150724-gijnqq.html#ixzz3go2lW4Tl