‘Class Warfare’: GOP Slams Proposed Obama Millionaire Tax Rate

Top Republicans came out forcefully against President Barack Obama's proposed "Buffett Rule" millionaire tax rate Sunday, calling it "class warfare" and welcoming billionaire Warren Buffett to "send in a check" if he's feeling guilty about his tax rate.

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), the chair of the House Budget Committee and author of the GOP budget, said Obama's plan would add "further instability to our system more uncertainty and it punishes job creation and those people who create jobs."

"Class warfare may make for really good politics but it makes for rotten economics," Ryan said on "Fox News Sunday."

Ryan said Obama's proposal, which would tax those who make more than $1 million at the same rate as middle-income earners, will undermine economic growth.

"If you tax something more, you get less of it," Ryan said. "If you tax job creators more, you get less job creation. If you tax their investment more, you get less investment."

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) was similarly dismissive of the idea on NBC's "Meet the Press," expressing concerns that it would stifle the economy.

"[Raising the tax rate] is a bad thing to do in the middle of an economic downturn, and of course the economy some would argue is even worse now than it was when the president signed an extension of the current tax rates back in December," McConnell said.

He noted that a similar effort to raise taxes on the wealthy failed a few years ago when Democrats were in control of both houses of Congress.

"With regard to his tax rate, if he's feeling guilty about it I think he should send in a check," McConnell said of Buffett. "But we don't want to stagnate this economy by raising taxes."