Scott Brown really doesn't want to talk about the Buffett Rule

Scott Brown doesn't want to talk about fairness

Taxes were the main topic of the week in the nation's most hotly contested Senate race between Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA). At issue primarily was Brown's vote against tax fairness and to filibuster the Buffett Rule. Brown's response? Change the subject.

Ms. Warren, a Harvard professor who gained a national following as a consumer advocate, has hammered Mr. Brown for opposing the 'Buffett Rule,' which would increase taxes on the nation's richest households. He has sought to reframe the debate by asking whether Ms. Warren voluntarily paid a higher state income tax rate, which is an option in Massachusetts. [...]

'I paid the taxes that are legally owed,' she said. 'I did not make a charitable contribution to the state.'

She added: 'Scott Brown just voted against the Buffett Rule and he's trying to find some way to change the conversation from that. But no matter how many times he says it, he cannot avoid the fact that on the fundamental question of whose side are you on, he stands with people making a million dollars a year or more paying lower tax rates than secretaries. I think he's wrong.'

The Brown campaign response? She's a hypocrite. Brown's campaign manager, Jim Barnett, says Warren 'lectures others about their obligation and responsibility to pay higher taxes, but she refuses to pay the optional higher rate available in Massachusetts.'

So does that mean Brown, who "earned a $700,000 advance on his memoir in 2010" and who has assets "between about $1 million and $2.3 million" feels an obligation to pay the higher optional rate in Massachusetts? Well, apparently the Times didn't think to ask that, but CNN did. And, no, he does not. And the Times was distracted from the original question: Where do the candidates stand on basic tax fairness?

You know where Elizabeth Warren is on this issue: She's built her career standing with America's working families. Return the favor. Please, contribute $5 to Elizabeth Warren on Orange to Blue.