President Obama Also Pays Lower Tax Rate Than His Secretary

President Obama has a little bit of a quandary on his hands. For the last few months he has toured the country with a vendetta against the rich. He believes they are not paying their fair share of taxes. He has even been touting the so called “Buffett Rule” due to the fact that billionaire Warren Buffett pays a lower percentage of his income in taxes than his secretary.

This year President Obama also paid less in taxes than his secretary.

Obama and his wife Michelle reported income of $789,674 last year, on which they paid $162,074 in tax – a rate of 20.5% whereas Obama’s secretary Anita Decker Breckenridge, makes $95,000 a year on which she pays a higher tax rate.

White House spokeswoman Amy Brundage told ABC News,

“[Breckenridge] pays a slightly higher rate this year on her substantially lower income, which is exactly why we need to reform our tax code and ask the wealthiest to pay their fair share.”

Under the Buffett Rule, due to be considered by the Senate next week, millionaires will be made to pay a minimum effective tax rate of at least 30% when annual income is $1million or more.

In January, it came to light that Republican Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney only paid about 14% of his income in taxes. He made more than $20 million dollars.

The Buffet Rule proposal has almost no chance of overcoming Republican opposition in Congress, but the whole point of the vote is to make Republicans seem like they care more about the wealthy than middle income Americans.

Obama’s campaign also aims to exploit the fortune Romney earned over decades as a private-equity executive, valued at up to $250 million. Obama’s Campaign manager Jim Messina made sure to point out the tax shelters and offshore accounts Romney has used to manage his money.

Messina said in a statement,

“What does he have to hide? Why did he open a Swiss bank account instead of an American bank account and establish a corporation in Bermuda instead of on our shores?”