For Immediate Release

Wednesday, September 4, 2024

“Appalled.”

Patriotic Millionaires to Vice President Harris: “Your retreat on capital gains is a baffling capitulation to Wall Street Billionaires that demonstrates a concerning lack of commitment to reversing destabilizing economic inequality.”

“The Patriotic Millionaires – and the American people – need to know why the Vice President believes Wall Street investors should get a tax break for pushing buttons on E-Trade while millions of Americans pay a higher rate of tax on their income simply because they earned it by actually working.”

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Vice President Kamala Harris used a speech in New Hampshire to announce a proposal that would pare down President Biden’s plan to tax capital gains at higher rates.

In response, Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:

“Vice President Harris is making a catastrophic mistake by capitulating to the petulant whining of the billionaire class. Last week, it was reported that Wall Street executives and Silicon Valley broligarchs were throwing a temper tantrum at the prospect of taxing billionaire income. Now, Vice President Harris seems to be making a policy choice based on the disproven, failed ideology of trickle-down economics, and giving billionaires a gift in the process.

Both on the economics and on the politics, this is a serious unforced error. The Patriotic Millionaires – and the American people – need to know why the Vice President believes Wall Street investors should get a tax break for pushing buttons on E-Trade while millions of Americans pay a higher tax rate on their income simply because they earned it by actually working. It’s absurd that our tax code rewards money more than sweat.

Vice President Harris, your retreat on capital gains is a baffling capitulation to Wall Street Billionaires that demonstrates a concerning lack of commitment to reversing destabilizing economic inequality.

You don’t need my years of experience on Wall Street to grasp the obvious. Big investors invest to make serious money, not to save a few percentage points on their tax bill. No one has ever made a lucrative investment decision based on a preferential tax rate. The incentive to invest is making money, not lowering tax rates. 

This ill-advised, destructive policy is a giveaway to the ultra-rich. We hope Vice President Harris will reconsider her position.”

For additional information or interview requests, please contact Chase Hardin at chardin@patrioticmillionaires.org.

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