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On taxes, Obama is also expected to call for economic fairness encapsulated by the so-called "Buffett Rule," arguing that the wealthy shouldn't pay a smaller share of their income in federal taxes than middle-class taxpayers. Many wealthy taxpayers earn investment income, which is taxed at 15 percent, and Obama has proposed that people earning at least $1 million annually
-- whether in salary or investments -- should pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes. Obama planned to note that "broad-based prosperity has never trickled-down from the success of a wealthy few. It has always come from the success of a strong and growing middle class." The focus on tax reform has brought attention to the effective tax rate of Romney, a millionaire who is paying 15.4 percent in federal taxes for 2011 on income mostly derived from investments. The top nominal rate for taxpayers with high incomes derived from wages, not including investments, is 35 percent. In advance of Obama's speech, political adviser David Axelrod charged that Romney is "just in a time warp," saying the former Massachusetts governor "seems to look at the world through the rear-view mirror." He said Romney subscribes to a Cold War-era belief that Russia is America's greatest foe in the world and would return the country to outmoded economic policies that led to the near economic meltdown in the fall of 2008. "I think he must watch Madmen and think it's the evening news," Axelrod said in an appearance on "CBS This Morning." He said that Romney "wants to go back to the same policies that got us into this disaster."
Obama was speaking at a luncheon of 900 editors and publishers following The Associated Press' annual meeting. William Dean Singleton, outgoing chairman of the AP Board of Directors and chairman of MediaNews Group Inc., will pose questions to Obama following the president's remarks.
[Associated
Press;
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