The office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has issued a swift response to a tax challenge issued by Warren Buffett in a Time article published today.
McConnell's Deputy Chief of Staff Don Stewart emailed us this:
"Sen. McConnell says that Washington should be smaller, rather than taxes getting bigger. And since some, like President Obama and Mr. Buffett want to pay higher taxes, Congress made it possible for them to call their own bluff and send in a check. So I look forward to Mr. Buffett matching a healthy batch of checks from those who actually want to pay higher taxes, including Congressional Democrats, the President and the DNC."
Stewart adds that McConnell never suggested that voluntary donations could fix the deficit.
Buffett had sarcastically told Time he was "touched" by McConnell's belief that "Americans are so wonderfully spirited that they would just solve it all by contributions."
It was part of Buffett's offer, with a chuckle, to match three-for-one any voluntary donation McConnell makes to reduce the nation's deficit.
That was his response to the suggestion by McConnell and others that if Buffett's calllast fall for higher tax rates on the super-rich means he wants to pay more taxes himself, then he should write a check to the Treasury.
GOP Senator John Thune has even introduced a bill he calls the "Buffett Rule Act of 2011" that would create "an option for individuals who believe they are under-taxed to voluntarily send extra money to the U.S. Treasury for the purpose of paying down the national debt."
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