Republicans in Congress are fighting to give more tax breaks to the extremely wealthy, rather than create jobs. Here at a glance is ample reason why the rich don’t need any more breaks—they already pay a lower percentage of their income than do the rest of us.  Warren Buffett is right.

President Obama today outlined a proposal to add $1.5 trillion in new tax revenue to pay for his proposed American Jobs Act to put Americans back to work. In a speech this morning from the White House, he said lawmakers need to focus first and foremost on creating jobs and challenged Congress to do so.

Of last year’s 100 highest-paid U.S. corporate chief executives, 25 took home more in CEO pay than their company paid in 2010 federal corporate income taxes, according to a new report from the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS).

Warren Buffett, one of the world’s richest men, has said repeatedly U.S. taxes should be higher on him and his fellow billionaires and millionaires. Today he lays it on the line in a New York Times op-ed piece.

The Bush-era tax cuts shifted the burden of funding vital government services like food inspection and air traffic control onto the already struggling middle class, according to a new report by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

Any time the idea that the very wealthiest among us ought to pony up their fair share is raised, Republican lawmakers issue dire warnings. ”If—heaven forbid—millionaires are asked to pay a little more in taxes, they will flee like flocks of migratory birds looking for a warmer welcome elsewhere. Their vast wealth forever lost.”

Contrary to the way the labor movement is painted by some people out there, we don’t all sing from the same hymn book.  In fact, the West Virginia AFL-CIO wants to team up with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on a top priority for the speaker.

This is a crosspost from ThinkProgress.

Travis Waldron  filed this report from a campaign event in Portsmouth, New Hampshire

A member of the local Rotary Club stood yesterday to ask former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R) a question weighing on the minds of millions of jobless Americans:  At a time when corporations are sitting on record amounts of cash, why are the Americans who can least afford it being asked to shoulder the burden of trillions of dollars in potential budget cuts?

It was simple choice: a small tax on Minnesota’s wealthiest 2 percent or shut down state services and programs. The tax would apply to those making more than $1 million a year, only about 7,700 people.

Because they refuse to ask the state’s wealthiest 2 percent to pay their fair share to help close a budget deficit, Republican state legislators in Minnesota are just days away from forcing a government shutdown close the doors to vital public services for working families and toss 38,000 state employees out of work and