While campaigning for President in 1992, Bill Clinton proposed a 10% "millionaire surtax" on taxable incomes above $1 million to help dose the deficit. Once in office, however, he pushed through that surtax on taxable income above $250,000, taking the rate up to 39.6%. At the time, a Treasury official gamely explained that most of those with incomes of $250,000 and up were millionaires—in terms of assets. Clinton "defined down what rich was," says Leonard Burman, director of the Tax Policy Center.rnThere's a reason why politicians do that: You can't balance a budget on the shoulders of plutocrats. There aren't enough of them.
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