Patriotic Millionaires is a collection of wealthy Americans fighting against the destabilizing concentration of wealth and power in the United States. Our members use their influence and unique voices to advance a vibrant and equitable economy, built on the foundation of a fair tax system, a livable wage for every working American, and equal access to political power.
We work every day to tax the rich, pay the people, and spread the power.
The Patriotic Millionaires first came together in 2010 to protest President Obama’s support for extending the Bush tax cuts on incomes over $1 million. Since then, the organization has become a go-to voice for the media on news related to taxes, wages, and money in politics. Over the last fifteen years, our work has repeatedly been featured in high-profile outlets like The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The Wall Street Journal, and PEOPLE. All in all, our work has been featured in well over 100 countries and has received local coverage in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
The group is chaired by Morris Pearl, a former Managing Director at BlackRock who retired in 2014 after a long career on Wall Street to work with the Patriotic Millionaires full-time. Our members come from all over the country and work in a wide variety of professional industries. They include investors, business owners and executives, lawyers, inheritors, filmmakers, authors, and more. Some well-known members include Abigail Disney, the Emmy Award-winning filmmaker; George Zimmer, the founder of Men’s Wearhouse; Chuck Collins, great-grandson of meatpacker Oscar F. Mayer and Director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies; Nicolette Beck, a Board member of the Ann and Gordon Getty Foundation; Susan Pritzker, the co-founder of the Libra Foundation; Nancy Stephens, Board of Trustees of the Union of Concerned Scientists and Americans for the Arts, and an actress known as a legacy cast member in the Halloween franchise; and artist Anne Delaney.
The Patriotic Millionaires work to change narratives around the issues of taxes, wages, and political equality, but we also engage in advocacy and lobbying efforts as well. Over the years, we have met privately with hundreds of elected leaders from both parties. We have testified in front of lawmakers at the local, state, and federal levels. We also had the distinct honor of standing beside President Obama in 2012 when he delivered his Tax Day address at the White House.
In recent years, we have also worked directly with members of Congress to introduce two landmark pieces of legislation – the OLIGARCH Act and the American Stability Act. Both would work to unrig our tax code and ensure that workers make enough money to meet their basic needs.
The Patriotic Millionaires’ newest book – Pay the People! Why Fair Pay is Good for Business and Great for America – will be published by The New Press in December 2024. It was written by two of our members: John Driscoll, a former Walgreens executive and healthcare CEO, and Morris Pearl. Together, Driscoll and Pearl make the business case for paying workers fair wages.
Previous books written by the Patriotic Millionaires include Tax the Rich! How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer (2021); How to Think Like a Patriotic Millionaire: Taxes (2018); and Patriotic Millionaires Present Renegotiating Power and Money in America (2015).
To learn more about the Patriotic Millionaires, click HERE to read our brochure.