PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES TO PRESIDENT TRUMP:

Your voters may let you ‘SHOOT SOMEONE ON 5TH AVENUE’ but let hedge fund managers continue to ‘GET AWAY WITH MURDER’? NOT SO FAST.

Group demands Trump keep promise to close carried interest loophole

WATCH: Press conference livestream at 10:30AM ET / 9:30AM CT

Washington, DC – On TUESDAY May 2nd at 10:30am ET, at a press conference alongside alongside US Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and US Representative Sander Levin (D-MI), former Blackrock executive and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires Morris Pearl will deliver a powerful message to President Trump demanding that he keep his promise to close the carried interest loophole.

Pearl will urge him to demonstrate to the American people that Congress is capable of conducting the people’s business; and that it is not, in fact, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Wall Street fund managers and other special interests. His full remarks are included below.

Trump campaigned on a promise to close the egregious loophole, but last week he released a one-page tax reform outline that made no mention of the loophole, let alone of closing it.

Now, US Senator Baldwin and US Representative Levin are introducing the Carried Interest Fairness Act, which has received overwhelming bipartisan support from government officials, economists, investors, and hedge fund managers.

WHO:   US Senator Tammy Baldwin

US Representative Sander Levin

Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers

WHEN:          TUESDAY, May 2 at 10:30 AM ET

 

WHERE:        SVC-214 (United States Capitol)

 

This press conference will also be livestreamed here.

To schedule an interview or for further comment, please contact Kelsea-Marie Pym at kpym@patrioticmillionaires.org.

REMARKS UNDER EMBARGO UNTIL 10:30AM EST 5/2

I am here on behalf of the Patriotic Millionaires to deliver a message specifically to President Trump.

 

President Trump, over and over and over and over and over again on the campaign trail, you promised your voters that if they voted for you, you would close the carried interest loophole.  Over and Over and Over and Over and Over again you promised you would stop this obscene give away to Wall Street.

 

Among other things you called the loophole, “the darling of Wall Street”.  you said “The hedge fund guys have to pay up.” You said the hedge fund guys were “getting away with murder.”

 

What a difference an election makes.

 

First, you packed your cabinet and your senior advisor positions with people from Wall Street like Steve Schwarzman who compared closing the carried interest loophole to Hitler’s invasion of Poland.

 

Then you released your tax plan.  This tax plan – in addition to being a wholesale give away of taxpayer money to the uber rich – says absolutely nothing – zero – zippo – nada – nothing about closing the carried interest loophole.  

 

When several fact-based publications – including the “failing” NYT’s – pointed out this egregious Omission, you sent your surrogates into overdrive to insist that you do plan to close the loophole despite having no mention of it whatsoever in your tax plan.  

 

Mr. Trump, do you see any mention of carried interest in this proposal.  We do not.

 

So the question we have for you is very simple: Do you plan to keep the promise you made to your voters to close the carried interest loophole or not?  

 

If you DO plan to close it, we will work with you to get lawmakers from both parties on this bill – the Carried Interest Fairness Act – which does exactly what you claimed you wanted to do.  It is worth noting that to date there are ZERO Republican co-sponsors on this bill.  

 

If you do not plan to close the loophole, we will spend the next four years making sure your voters know that you refused to keep your promise to them despite overwhelming support from DEMOCRATS for closing the loophole you yourself campaigned on so aggressively.

 

You claimed during the campaign that you could shoot someone on 5th avenue and your voters wouldn’t care.  We will see if they likewise forgive you for continuing to let hedge fund managers get away with murder.

 

Your move Mr. President.

 

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About the Patriotic Millionaires

 

The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of 200 high-net-worth Americans who are committed to building a more prosperous, stable, and inclusive nation. The group focuses on promoting public policy solutions that encourage political equality; guarantee a sustaining wage for working Americans; and ensure that millionaires, billionaires, and corporations pay a greater percentage of taxes. You can find out more at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/about/

 

The Patriotic Millionaires have appeared on hundreds of media outlets here and abroad, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and many others. You can find more coverage at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/media