Missouri senators split over 'Buffett Rule'

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The U.S. Senate is poised to take up the much-publicized "Buffett Rule" later this month, and Missouri's senators are split on the issue of raising taxes on the nation's wealthiest citizens.

Named for billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who gained much attention last year when he came out in favor of an income tax increase on multimillionaires after pointing out that he pays less in federal income tax than his own secretary, the Buffett Rule is slated to come up for a vote in the Senate next week.

The proposed legislation guarantees that any American making more than $2 million annually would have to pay the government at least a real tax rate of 30 percent. 

Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill told reporters near a gas station in Columbia, Mo., last week that she would vote in favor of the bill, saying that loopholes and tax breaks -- particularly on income made through investments -- have allowed the nation's wealthy to avoid paying their fair share.

"Should multimillionaires pay less in a real tax rate than the woman who works behind a counter at this gas station?" she said. "I don't think so."

But the issue is not so cut and dry for McCaskill's Republican counterpart, Sen. Roy Blunt, who said the legislation could potentially backfire and hurt small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Blunt said a blanket tax increase on anyone making more than $2 million did not get to the heart of what he sees as the more critical issue, which is the difference in how income earned through work is taxed compared to income earned from investments. Speaking to reporters shortly before the president's State of the Union Address in January, Blunt said the focus should be on how investments are taxed.

"The Buffett rule, as the White House explains it, is a joke and everybody that understands tax policy knows it's a joke," Blunt said.

The bill is due for a vote in the Senate on April 16.