Obama tax plan gets boost from Buffett

President Barack Obama just endorsed Warren Buffett's op-ed in the New York Times today calling on higher taxes on the wealthy.

“He said we’ve got to stop coddling billionaires like me,” Obama said at a town hall event in Cannon Falls, MN, a stop on his three-day bus tour. “That’s what Warren Buffett said.”

“He pointed out that he pays a lower tax rate than anybody in his office, including the secretary,” he added. “He figured out that his tax bill, he paid about 17 percent. And the reason is because most of his wealth comes from capital gains.”

“You don’t get those tax breaks, you’re paying more than that,” Obama said.

The president also called for the new Super Committee tasked with $1.5 trillion in deficit cuts to embrace Buffett's proposals for more substantial savings.

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks," Buffett wrote.

Obama has proposed ending loopholes and tax breaks for wealthier Americans as part of a deal to reduce the federal debt. White House spokesman Jay Carney cited Buffett's column this morning while briefing reporters en route to the start of the president's bus tour in Minnesota.

Buffett addressed part of his column to the new congressional super committee assigned to find $1.5 trillion in debt reduction over the next 10 years:

I would leave rates for 99.7 percent of taxpayers unchanged and continue the current 2-percentage-point reduction in the employee contribution to the payroll tax. This cut helps the poor and the middle class, who need every break they can get.

But for those making more than $1 million -- there were 236,883 such households in 2009 -- I would raise rates immediately on taxable income in excess of $1 million, including, of course, dividends and capital gains. And for those who make $10 million or more -- there were 8,274 in 2009 -- I would suggest an additional increase in rate.

My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice.

Republicans such as Brad Dayspring, a spokesman for House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., aren't very impressed with Buffett's proposals.