The “Buffett rule”

In the last 25 years, the Forbes 400 list has had its net worth increase nine for one.… That is not happening with the American people generally, and it’s happening during a time when those same rich people have had their tax rates go down, down, down. And I think that when we’re talking to 312 million Americans about shared sacrifice and taking away things we promised to them … it’s time for the ultrarich to share in that sacrifice to some degree.… I mean, you change the Social Security rule somewhat and millions of people will feel it, they’ll really feel it. You change the Medicare rules and millions of people will feel it. You get a minimum tax of 30 or 35 percent on incomes of a million or 10 million or over, the truth is, those people won’t even feel it. But at least the American people, as a whole, will feel somehow that the ultrarich have been asked to participate to a small degree in this overall sacrifice that we’re all going to be asked to participate in.