Who does Senator Kyrsten Sinema work for: Arizonans or private equity billionaires?

That’s the question that should be on all of her constituents’ minds as Senator Sinema stands in the way of the much-needed tax reform in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, and it’s the question that the Patriotic Millionaires are asking in a new pressure campaign we launched in Arizona today.

Every single Democrat in the Senate except Kyrsten Sinema (yes, even Joe Manchin) supports closing the carried interest loophole, one of the most intellectually-indefensible, morally-unforgivable, economically-inexcusable loopholes in the entire federal tax code that allows billionaire private equity fund managers to cut their tax bill nearly in half and pay lower rates than ordinary working people.

With 49 other Senators on board, Senator Sinema is the only person standing in the way of Democrats closing this egregious loophole once and for all as part of the Build Back Better Act.

That’s why we’re launching a multi-platform campaign to call out her obstruction on this issue. We’re running full-page ads featuring an open letter to Sinema in multiple Arizona newspapers this week, parking a mobile billboard in front of her Phoenix district office challenging her on her “internship” at a winery owned by a private equity baron, and hosting an in-person protest to put last-minute pressure on her to close the carried interest loophole as part of the Build Back Better Act.

Sinema’s defense of this indefensible loophole is astounding. The few thousand private equity fund managers who take advantage of the carried interest loophole are some of the wealthiest people on the planet who have been paying less than working people for decades – they can more than afford to pay more.

They claim that they are so important to the global economy that they deserve a special tax break, but in reality their work often centers around exploiting others for profit:

• When private equity managers bought Toys R Us, they took millions in fees, bankrupted the company, and laid off tens of thousands of employees.
• When private equity managers bought a national chain of nursing homes, they took millions in fees, bankrupted the company, and got thousands of health code violations for things like untreated bed sores and medication errors.
• Private equity managers recently bought $900 million of Phoenix real estate. Rent in the city has increased over 20% in the last year.
• When private equity managers bought PetSmart, dog deaths in the company’s care more than doubled.

These are not people that need a tax break. These are not people that deserve a tax break. But Senator Sinema wants to make sure they keep it. We have no idea why she feels this way, but it might have something to do with the fact that her mega-rich campaign donors like the carried interest loophole and want to preserve it.

It’s not too late for Sinema to stand up to her donors, however, and get on board with closing the carried interest loophole. That’s why we’re running our pressure campaign this week, and why we’re going to continue to fight to close this loophole as part of the Build Back Better Act.

For more information about the campaign and updates on the billboard and open letter to Sinema, check out our Twitter page HERE. If you like the message, give us a retweet!