Dear Senator Mark Pryor and Senate Republicans,
On behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires, we are deeply disappointed that Monday you voted against bringing the “Buffett Rule” to the Senate floor for an open and transparent debate.
This is not a time for partisanship or political games. This is not an issue of left or right, Democrat or Republican. This is an American issue, and the future of American democracy demands that this issue come to a vote.
Given the dire state of our economy, it is absurd that one-quarter of all millionaires pay a lower tax rate than millions of working, middle-class American families.
The “Buffett Rule” is not the only thing we need to do to ensure the success of our country, but it is certainly the most obvious. Senate Republicans and Senator Mark Pryor refusing Monday to even consider this vital step is ridiculous.
Sincerely,
Patriotic Millionaires
Thank you Democratic members of the Super Committee and Congress,
Thank you for making the tough decisions, for understanding that no deal was the best deal for America. Thank you for listening to the constituents you serve -- not just us millionaire members, but the 99%. While the majority of Americans are suffering, and making everyday sacrifices in these hard economic times, your Republican counterparts on the Super Committee and in Congress continue to ignore the realities of failed economic policies. They care more about their pledge to Norquist than their pledge to the United States Constitution. Thank you for being patriotic in a time when the American people need you most.
Thank you,
Patriotic Millionaires and Patriotic Americans
We are writing to ask you to do the right thing for our country and REJECT ANY Super Committee deal that does not raise tax rates on incomes over $1 million to AT LEAST 39.6%, REGARDLESS of how many deductions are eliminated.
Private jets shouldn’t have been tax deductible in the first place.
Thank you,
Patriotic Millionaires and Patriotic Americans
Read Our Original Letter
We are writing to urge you to put our country ahead of politics.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
Our country faces a choice – we can pay our debts and build for the future, or we can shirk our financial responsibilities and cripple our nation’s potential.
Our country has been good to us. It provided a foundation through which we could succeed. Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have.
Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.
Thank you,
EVELYN ALDRICH-WINTHROP
Rumson, NJ
MICHAEL ALEXANDER
El Macero, CA
Cynda Collins Arsenault
Superior, CO
Jacob B
New York, NY
WD B
Aspen, CO
MICHAEL BARR
Baltimore, MD
HENRY BEAN
New York, NY
Dick Beattie
New York, NY
Paul Beirne
New York, NY
Lawrence B. Benenson*
New York, NY
Daniel Berger
Philadelphia, PA
D.A.
San Francisco, CA
N.A.
Dallas, TX
Robert S. Bowditch
Brookline, MA
Brady Brim-Deforest*
Los Angeles, CA
David A. Brown
Berkeley, CA
Mark Buell
San Francisco, CA
Susie Buell
San Francisco, CA
Doug Carlston
San Rafael, CA
David Chiang
Las Vegas, NV
JEROME CLELAND
San Diego, CA
Tom and Noel Congdon
Denver, CO
ROY CRAWFORD
Whitesburg, KY
A D
Sacramento, CA
SCOTT DELMAN
New York, NY
David desJardins
Burlingame, CA
Abigail Disney
New York, NY
BILL DONALDSON
Redford, MI
MARTA DRURY
San Francisco, CA
DOUG EDWARDS
Los Altos, CA
Paul and Joanne Egerman*
Boston, MA
JAY EISENHOFER
New York, NY
Niko Elmaleh
New York, NY
DAN F.
Greenwich, CT
Edie Falco
New York, NY
Ronald Feldman
New York, NY
JERRY FIDDLER
Berkeley, CA
Christopher Findlater
Naples, FL
Charlie Fink
Washington, DC
JONATHAN FISHER
Seattle, WA
RICHARD FOOS
ERIC FREDRICKSON
Los Gatos, CA
JOHN FULLERTON
Rye, NY
Ron Garret, PhD
Emerald Hills, CA
BILL GAWTHROP
Yorkville, CA
DREW GINSBURG
Dallas, TX
STEVEN GLUCKSTERN
San Francisco, CA
David Goldschmidt
Princeton, NJ
JOSH GORDON
Las Vegas, NV
Linda Gottlieb
New York, NY
Garrett Gruener*
Oakland, CA
JEFF GURAL
New York, NY
Nathan Hadfield*
Provo, UT
BRUCE HELMER
Chanhassen, MN
Suzanne and Lawrence Hess*
San Diego, CA
ARNOLD HIATT
Boston, MA
KENNY HILLMAN
LEO HINDERY, JR.
New York, NY
Bill Janeway
New York, NY
Frank Jernigan*
San Francisco, CA
Melissa C. Johnsen*
Kirkwood, MO
John S. Johnson
New York, NY
Rob Johnson
New York, NY
WAYNE JORDAN
Oakland, CA
William Jurika
Piedmont, CA
JOSEPH KAEMPFER
Mclean, VA
AL KAHN
New York, NY
JOEL KANTER
Vienna, VA
Josh Kanter
Sandy, UT
ROB S. KAPLAN
New York, NY
Rochelle Kaplan
Salt Lake City, UT
JANE KATCHER
John Katzman
New York, NY
John Kortenhaus*
Plano, TX
DAL LAMAGNA
Poulsbo, WA
STEVE LARRSON
Fairfax, WA
JOAN LEIBOVICH
Boston, MA
David Levine*
New York, NY
Mary & Charles Liebman*
IL
Doug L
New York, NY
Art Lipson
Salt Lake City, UT
Eugene Long
Plymouth Meeting, PA
ALEXANDER M
Los Altos, CA
MICHEL MARKS
Red Bank, NJ
WIN MCCORMACK
Portland, OR
DOC MCCOY
Fort Worth, TX
TERENCE MEEHAN
New York, NY
Dennis Mehiel
New York, NY
DIANE MEYER SIMON
Santa Barbara, CA
HERB MILLER
Washington, DC
Vibhu Mittal
Palo Alto, CA
KEN MORRIS
San Francisco, CA
STEVEN NAGOURNEY
New York, NY
SHEKAR NARASIMHAN
Mclean, VA
Chris Nelson
Barrington, RI
KELLY NELSON
WENDY NEU
New York, NY
Peter Norvig*
Palo Alto, CA
LARRY NUSBAUM
Phoenix, AZ
GARY PASSON
Kihei, HI
Frank Patitucci*
Pleasanton, PA
RAKITA PAYNE
Virginia Beach, VA
Morris and Barbara Pearl
New York, NY
Judy Piggot*
Seattle, WA
Rebecca Pontikes*
Catherine Raphael*
ANDY RAPPAPORT
Menlo Park, CA
GREAT NECK RICHMAN
New York, NY
NOURIEL ROUBINI
New York, NY
Jonathan Rose
New York, NY
FRED ROTONDARO
Shady Side, MD
MICHAEL SALAKO
DeSoto, TX
Guy and Jeanine Saperstein
Piedmont, CA
Heike Schmitz
Palo Alto, CA
Fritz Schneider*
San Francisco, CA
DAVID SCHROEDERS
Sarasota, FL
JAMES SEILER
Alpine, NJ
SYBIL SHAINWALD
New York, NY
Ed Shufro
Craig Silverstein
Mountain View, CA
Michael Steinhardt
New York, NY
DAN STEVENS
Naples, FL
SARAH STRANAHAN
SANDOR AND FAYE STRAUS
Lafayette, CA
SIMON STRAUSS
New York, NY
PAT STRYKER
Fort Collins, CO
MAUREEN TATE
Philadelphia, PA
WHITNEY TILSON
New York, NY
Andrew Tobias
New York, NY
BETH UFFNER
New York, NY
SUSAN VAN DOLSEN
Rye, NY
PHILLIPE VILLERS
Concord, MA
CHRISTY AND SCOTT WALLACE
Washington, DC
ROSS WALLER
Lexington, VA
David Watson
Oakland, CA
ANGELA WB
New York, NY
Peter Weinberger
New York, NY
Bernard and Carol Winograd
New York, NY
28 Patriotic Millionaires Stand with President Obama in Support of the
Buffett Rule
Only 375,000 Americans have incomes of over $1,000,000
Between 1979 and 2007, incomes for the wealthiest 1% of Americans rose by 281%
During the Great Depression, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 68%
In 1963, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 91%
In 1976, millionaires had a top marginal tax rate of 70%
Today, millionaires have a top marginal tax rate of 35%
Reducing the income tax on top earners is one of the most inefficient ways to grow the economy according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office
44% of Congress people are millionaires. The tax cuts were never meant to be permanent
Letting tax cuts for the top 2% expire as scheduled would pay down the debt by $700 billion over the next 10 years
In November, 2010 more than 100 of the country’s most financially successful citizens came together to urge the President to let the Bush era tax cuts expire for people making more than $1 million a year. An outpouring of public support encouraged them to continue their fight. Here is some of the press from their efforts.
Washington Post Opinion page
New York Magazine’s weekly Intelligencer
ABC News and Money
Yahoo News
Salon, Forbes, and Huffington Post
MSNBC
Slatest, PressTV, Personal Finance Bulletin, Daily Kos, The Nation (picked up by NPR), Patriotic Millionaire Ron Garret’s blog, and the Chicago Sun Times
Washington Post blog by Yash Gupta
CNN’s Paul Begala
Newser (89% of readers said the story was "brilliant")
Blogs of: The Wall Street Journal, AFL-CIO, The Atlantic, Reuters Front Row, The Today Show by MSNBC’s Joe Wolf
CBS Boston
The Week’s Opinion Brief
The Daily Caller by Alexis Levinson, Doug Bandow, and Caroline May
American Public Media: Marketplace
appearance by Katzman (transcript),
Media Matters for America
America News Online
On April 14th, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) commented that: "We hear this quite a bit from rich Democrats. 'Please tax us more,' they say. Well I know a lot who don't say that I'll tell you that. As the ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee I feel obligated to inform Mr. Plouffe that the president and all those rich, liberal democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment on their tax return to pay down the federal debt. The option is right there at the bottom of their tax return."
In response, the Patriotic Millionaires released a statement to the press saying: "A few of us voluntarily writing a check to the IRS will not fix the problem that Sen. Hatch and his colleagues created for our country with their fiscal irresponsibility. It will take the work of all Patriotic Americans to create a strong foundation for our continued prosperity. We are willing to do our part by paying higher taxes. It is clear Senator Hatch and many of his colleagues are not willing to do theirs. We challenge Senator Hatch and the other millionaire members of the Senate to put their country first and raise taxes on people like them – and us – who make more than a million dollars a year. In the meantime, if Senator Hatch would like to make a personal contribution to the IRS to help his country, we pledge to match his contribution."
The following week, the Millionaires received a letter from Sen. Hatch detailing the reasoning behind his statement. Click here to read his letter.
The Millionaires responded in kind. You can read their letter here.
*indicates these patriotic millionaires support the specific proposals in the Fairness in Taxation Act
