The term “Patriotic Millionaire” connotes a person who is well off – okay, maybe a lot better than just “well off” – and who is patriotic. Nothing inherently odd about that, except when you learn the mission of our organization, you might be left scratching your head as to why wealthy people advocate to pay more in tax. I mean, that’s really against our financial self-interest, right?
Well, the truth is that paying more in taxes, if part of an overall tax policy that places fewer burdens on the poor and middle class while placing additional tax burdens on the wealthy, is actually in the best interest of everyone (including us millionaires). Doing so will help curb the horrendous inequality in wealth that exists today which threatens the very fabric of our democracy.
This is not taking money out of the pockets of the rich and simply giving it to the poor. It is merely a means to level the playing field by enacting a more equitable and fair tax code. I promise, the rich will still be rich (after all, I like having money), but the poor and middle class will also have a fighting chance for a piece of the pie. That’s all anyone wants – a fair and fighting chance at a piece of the pie. I was able to accumulate a fair degree of wealth because I came from a well-off middle class family, worked hard, and stuck with it for a long time. The tax code helped enable me to take advantage of some good-earning years, and after a while, the next thing I know, I’m way more than well-off! The tax code ought to do this for everyone – not just the more than “well-off” high wage earners.
What’s important for people to understand is that this is not a zero-sum game. We’re not trying to help the poor by hurting the rich. When the average American does better, the pie actually grows larger, so that everybody gets a piece of it. The wealthy do not have to give up their wealth in order for society as a whole to be better – they can pay higher taxes and end up even richer at the end of the day. Obviously, that benefits everyone!
I came to the Patriotic Millionaires because I could see over the last several decades this country growing more and more into a society of haves and have-nots. We were approaching the level of a third-world society, where there is a super elite rich class of about 1% of the population doing better than ever, while much of the other 99% are struggling to get by, living just barely above or even below the poverty line. I could see that if this trend were not reversed, our democracy would fail, and the rule of law would erode. In essence, the masses would come at the rest of us with pitchforks, but as the saying goes, this time they wouldn’t be pitchforks.
I saw that the Patriotic Millionaires were one of the few organizations working to fight the growth of inequality, and doing so in an especially effective way. Only by enacting a fair tax code, raising the minimum wage, and reforming our campaign finance system can we begin to reverse the process of this terrible wealth inequality. As the rich pay more of their fair share, and the poor and middle class have fewer unfair burdens placed on them, the inequality in wealth can begin to even out somewhat, and we can start to build a fair and just society.
We all know that anything worth building must be built from the ground up. It cannot be built from the top down. If we want a robust, healthy, and democratic American society, it must be built on a foundation of fairness at the lower- and middle-class levels, not a collection of ultra-wealthy millionaires and billionaires at the top. The Patriotic Millionaires stand for that very principle, and that is why I am proud to be a Patriotic Millionaire.
Drew Pomerance is a nationally renowned trial and appellate attorney, with decades of expertise in all aspects of complex business litigation, insurance coverage and bad faith disputes, as well as labor and employment matters. He has tried numerous cases to verdict, argued at the state and federal courts of appeal, and has won both of the cases he argued to the California Supreme Court. He is now turning his full-time focus to mediation and has opened up his own private practice.
Drew is available to speak to the media about democracy, in addition to wages and corporate behavior.
To get in touch with Drew, please contact Emily McCloskey, Deputy Communications Director, at [email protected].