The teacher-city standoff in Chicago as it relates to the larger national issues of labor and education
Last Monday, Senate Republicans blocked the Buffett Rule with a filibuster vote. All but one Republican (Sen. Susan Collins of Maine) voted against the bill. Despite this defeat, the Buffett Rule polls highly among Americans. For instance, a recent CNN/ORC poll asked its sample if they would “favor or oppose a proposal to change the federal income tax rates so that people who make more than one million dollars a year will pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes?” The answer was a resounding yes. Specifically, 72% of people supported the proposal. Unfortunately, that is not how the Buffett Rule would have worked. In addition, that’s only one of the misconceptions surrounding this proposed legislation. The actual Buffett Rule would phase in between one and two million dollars of income. This would avoid a scenario in which a move from $999,999 to $1,000,001 would cause a massive tax increase. …