There is no denying that Big Tech and its well-known industry leaders have done the world plenty of good. The device you’re using to read these words, and the speed at which you downloaded them, would not exist if not for their relentless spirit of innovation and their desire to push technological boundaries. But an old rule still applies: outsized success inevitably engenders hubris; that … Continue reading Delusions of Philanthropy
It’s a monumental day at the Patriotic Millionaires! Today, with support from our organization and a number of our allies, Representatives Barbara Lee (CA-12), Summer Lee (PA-12), Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), and Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) introduced the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act, which will create an annual wealth tax focused exclusively on containing destabilizing inequality in America and ensuring the viability of … Continue reading Pass the OLIGARCH Act. Save democracy.
Dear Mr. Musk: I know you’ve been getting a lot of unsolicited advice about Twitter lately but nobody is asking the question that keeps running through my mind: who will inherit Twitter after you’re gone? Since you’re only 51, you might think the question premature, but as a behavioral economist who studies bequests, I think there is a lot to be said for considering your … Continue reading An Open Letter to Elon Musk
Last week’s 2023 Annual Spring Meeting was a smashing success! Over the course of two days, we hosted policymakers, experts, and activists in conversations about the need to restructure the economy to reduce inequality, and held dozens of meetings with key lawmakers on Capitol Hill to advocate for higher taxes on ourselves and other wealthy Americans. While we were hard at work fighting to transform … Continue reading Why We Don’t Just Send a Check to the IRS
Below is a letter sent to Bill Gates, founder of Microsoft and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, on July 28, 2022 by Jeffrey R. Huggett, a member of the Patriotic Millionaires. Dear Bill, Like so many others recently, I read your blog announcing substantial personal contributions to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Whereas I am thrilled about the important work you fund … Continue reading A Letter to Bill Gates
Republicans have been working since the day President Biden took office to convince voters they should be given control of the House and Senate, but, for the first time, we got a look at what they’d actually do there. While Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has refused to answer questions about what the Republican platform might look like (When asked what he would do with control … Continue reading What’s in the GOP’s Horrifying Senate Platform
Is Maggie Hassan (NH) about to cost Raphael Warnock (GA) his Senate seat? The answer is, quite likely, yes. How? By personally blocking the $15 minimum wage bill that Sen. Warnock ran on – and that exit polls show he won on. To add insult to injury, Hassan patently refuses to offer an alternative to the bill that has already passed in the House. The … Continue reading Maggie Hassan Is Trying to Make Raphael Warnock Lose
I am joining the Patriotic Millionaires for one big reason: sitting on the sidelines and watching is no longer an option – at least not for me. An increasing number of our fellow citizens feel disparaged by an economy and a politics that offers little or no security, that rewards the few and ignores the many, and that erodes our confidence in those who are … Continue reading Why I’m a Patriotic Millionaire: Andrew Ellis
Abigail E. Disney is a documentary filmmaker, activist, co-founder of Fork Films, and podcast host of “All Ears.” She is a member of the Patriotic Millionaires. The following is her foreword for the recently release Inequality Kills report from Oxfam International. We have just spent nearly two years, over and over again, watching people die—they’ve died of neglect, of carelessness, of a lack of empathy, … Continue reading Abigail E. Disney Foreword to Oxfam “Inequality Kills” Report
Patriotic Millionaire Abigail Disney has been one of the most outspoken advocates on our issues for years, and we are excited to share the news of yet another incredible and impactful piece of work that her and her team have produced. The nonprofit Sundance Institute recently announced that The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales – a film that Abigail co-directed and co-produced – will … Continue reading PM Abigail Disney’s film premieres at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival
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 … Continue reading Patriotic Millionaires Target Senator Sinema With Pressure Campaign
Last Wednesday, Peter Coy of the New York Times released an opinion piece in which he argues that so-called “benefits cliffs” in the US discourage low-income workers from taking higher-paid work. To explain the “benefits cliff,” he gives an example of a fictitious 25-year-old single mother, Lei, with two children. Lei has a full-time job, but because it pays her less than she and her … Continue reading Want to solve the benefits cliff problem? Pay workers more
Democrats in Congress are close to finalizing a deal on the Biden Build Back Better Agenda, and they’re considering including one of the most significant tax changes in decades – the Billionaires Income Tax – in their reconciliation bill. This tax, also known as mark-to-market, would target only about 700 billionaires (forget the top 1%, this is the top 0.0002%), and force them to start … Continue reading Pass the Billionaire Wealth Tax
Things are getting interesting in Washington, where Democrats are considering including one of the most significant tax changes in decades – a Billionaires Income Tax – in their budget reconciliation bill. This Billionaires Income Tax, also known as mark-to-market, would mark a historic change in the way that the ultra-wealthy are taxed. It targets only the absolute richest Americans, about 700 billionaires (forget the top … Continue reading Defending the Billionaires Income Tax
With Democrats preparing to pass a reconciliation bill that will spend up to $3.5 trillion on investments and aid for American families, the next few months are going to be full of debate about how to pay for this new spending. One of the changes proposed by the Biden administration is eliminating the stepped-up basis, an egregious loophole that allows the rich to pass down … Continue reading It’s Time to End the Stepped-Up Basis
Republicans are making the disastrous decision to politicize raising the debt ceiling— YET AGAIN. The debt ceiling, which is the legal limit on the amount of debt the U.S. treasury sustains, or the actual amount the U.S government is permitted to borrow, is vital to the stability of our economy. Since Congress spends more than it collects in revenue, it must allow the Treasury Department … Continue reading Republicans are Politicizing the Debt Ceiling–Yet Again
Yesterday, Jeff Bezos went to space. In response, the Patriotic Millionaires released the following statement on the morning of launch day from one of our members, Stephen Prince: “Sixty years ago, we sent the first American into space, and the top income tax rate was 91%. Today, a billionaire launched himself into space after paying a true tax rate of less than 1% for years. … Continue reading If Jeff Bezos Can Afford to Go to Space, He can Afford to Pay more in Taxes
Our history of space travel is a catalog of humanity’s greatest achievements. When the Soviets put a satellite in orbit, that was a first. Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard touched space 60 years ago, our first-ever star voyagers. NASA – a publicly funded agency staffed with the best and brightest American minds – put Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong on the moon, and got them … Continue reading Don’t Be Impressed with the Space Billionaires
Although the framework of the bipartisan infrastructure plan has been largely agreed on by a group of both Democrats and Republicans, it was only a matter of time before the more extreme elements of the GOP tried to undermine the deal. And right on cue as the bipartisan working group is attempting to finalize the bill’s details, some conservative groups are now demanding that the … Continue reading Fix the Tax Gap, Fund the IRS
The bipartisan infrastructure deal that Senate Democrats, Republicans, and President Joe Biden agreed on last week looks like it may already be in danger. With Democratic leadership promising to link the bipartisan bill to a larger reconciliation bill that includes more progressive priorities and tax hikes on the rich, and Republicans threatening to back out if Democrats pair the two bills together, there’s a lot … Continue reading What You Need to Know About the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal