WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans defeated President Barack Obama’s so-called “Buffett Rule” in a 51-45 procedural vote Monday.
Sixty votes were required to move the legislation forward.
The legislation’s defeat was widely-expected, but the White House was eager to put Republicans on record against the proposal, which phases in a minimum effective tax rate of 30 percent for those earning more than $1 million a year, minus any deductions for charitable giving.
The rule is named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who famously complained that his own tax rate is lower than that of his secretary.
Critics have said the tax hike would harm job creation while only adding $47 billion to federal coffers over 10 years, but administration officials have argued the measure is not intended to be a revenue-raising mechanism. Instead, they say, it is an attempt to build a more progressive tax code.