Would you let your house collapse because you were tired of paying for its upkeep? Would you fire your chief revenue officer and declare war on his staff? That’s what we’re doing to American infrastructure, our National Parks, and the IRS. Somehow the idea of paying taxes to protect what we value has become intolerable for the rich. Rigging the tax code to provide breaks so the wealthy pay lower rates than working people is the order of the day. I benefit from many of those breaks, but look, living in the United States is a privilege and comes with the obligation to help pay for its well-being. Those of us who can need to pay our fair share.
I joined Patriotic Millionaires because I’m alarmed at the growing gap between the top 1% and the vast majority of working people who power our economy. These are the hard-working men and women who work two and three jobs and still struggle to afford decent housing, health and child care, and groceries. It’s flat out wrong, and the financial stress has had a corrosive effect on our democracy. Distrust, conspiracy theories and extreme partisanship thrive when the game is rigged. Patriotic Millionaires fights for a fairer tax code and living wages. We believe that all Americans should make a living wage of at least $45,000 a year and that they shouldn’t pay any taxes until they do. The rich should pay more so that the rest can pay less and enjoy the fruits of their work. It’s just common sense.
Andy Brown founded Stanford Properties, a real estate investment and development firm in the Washington, DC metro area in 1992. During his career, he has acquired and developed over thirty-five residential and commercial projects with an aggregate value exceeding $1 billion.
He is an active member of the Urban Land Institute where was previously Co-Chair of the TAP Committee providing pro-bono guidance to local jurisdictions with challenging land use and development issues. He has also lectured at the Schools of Architecture and Engineering at the University of Maryland and the Washington College of Law at American University. He has served on the boards of several local educational and philanthropic organizations, including Greater D.C. Cares, Inc., which Mr. Brown helped found in 1989 to promote volunteerism throughout the Washington area and the New Community Foundation which Mr. Brown founded in 2000 to provide scholarships to low-income students of the Shaw neighborhood of Washington to attend college and independent schools.