Determined to show Wall Street that it is the people who run America, this year the Patriotic Millionaires are executing a state-by-state campaign.
Today, Morris Pearl, Chair of the Board of the Patriotic Millionaires, challenged Michael Sommers of PEGCC to a public debate on the carried interest tax loophole, the policy which allows fund managers to pay a lower tax rate than most other Americans.
Why are we in fact subsidizing housing for wealthy people? Not only are we subsidizing housing for the wealthy, we’re doing it to the tune of billions of dollars a year. This can’t possibly be a good thing, and we should stop it.
We have expanded our purview a bit to include a few other issues: raising the minimum wage, more disclosure of political spending, and generally trying to help regular Americans have the same kind of political influence as do the wealthiest Americans, in addition to making the tax system more fair.
Today, Mike Sommers, former Chief of Staff to former Speaker of the House John Boehner, started a new job as president of the Private Equity Growth Capital Council (PEGCC), a trade association for Wall Street millionaires.
Last week, the Private Equity Growth Capital Council announced Mike Sommers, former Chief of Staff to Speaker of the House John Boehner, as its incoming president and CEO. The trade association has been at the center of a battle over the carried interest loophole, a ridiculous rule in our tax code that allows managers of private investment funds to pay capital gains rates on money they earn managing other people’s money.
For progressives like myself, the Institute for Policy Studies’ finding that twenty Americans own more wealth than half the population presents a frustrating puzzle.
In a report entitled Billionaire Bonanza released December 2, my fellow Patriotic Millionaire Chuck Collins and Josh Hoxie of the Institute for Policy Studies detailed the extreme and growing level of wealth inequality in America. The results truly scared me and you should be scared too, whether you are part of the 99% or part of the 1%.
Morris Pearl: I have worked hard in my life, but there are plenty of people who worked far harder than I have at actual backbreaking jobs, whether it’s driving buses, taking care of the sick people in the hospitals or rescuing people from fires. They pay tax at a much higher rate than I do.
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Please read a new op-ed by Patriotic Millionaire Chairperson Morris Pearl, former Managing Director of BlackRock Inc., titled “Tax Plan Proves Billionaire Populist Really Just a Billionaire” in The Hill.
The Patriotic Millionaires roundly rejected the bulk of Donald Trump’s proposed tax reform that would give massive tax breaks to the wealthiest individuals and corporations in America. One small segment of his tax proposal members of the Patriotic Millionaires do support is an end to the carried interest tax loophole, which allows hedge fund managers to pay lower taxes than working class Americans.
“It’s time for us to return to where we once had been before taxes were demonized and government was demonized,” said Arnold Hiatt, former chief executive and chairman of the shoe company Stride Rite.
Patriotic Millionaires reiterated their call to end the carried interest loophole which allows hedge fund managers to pay capital gains rates on income that should be taxed as ordinary income, just hours after President Obama called for its closure
We reject the premise that increasing taxes is bad.
Today, the Patriotic Millionaires called for an end to the carried interest loophole which allows hedge fund managers to pay capital gains rates on income that logically should be characterized as ordinary income.
It’s that time of the campaign cycle again, when aspiring presidential candidates dash across the country to make their case to voters and put forward their plans on how to reform the tax code and the IRS. Many have a new national system in mind, dubbed the “Fair Tax.”
Social Security now keeps over 15 million senior citizens out of poverty and serves as the sole source of income for nearly one in four recipients.
The Patriotic Millionaires recognize that many of the specifics of the corporate tax code are indeed complicated. But our positions on corporate taxes is not. Big businesses get a lot from this country, they should put more back in. It’s that simple.
“There is no policy reason that people who live off of investment income should pay taxes at a lower rate than Americans who actually work for a living.”
Members voice support for legislation that seeks to ensure a person will be judged on their abilities and contribution NOT on the economic status of their heritage.