Millionaires Tell President Obama: Tax Us and Let the Little Fellow Go
American Billionaires and Millionaires think it is ‘Pay Back Time’ and they aren’t talking about getting even. Friday, Forty Millionaires signed a statement asking for the Bush era taxes on their wealth be ended. Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength (PMfFS) made the statement on a starkly simple website, http://www.fiscalstrength.com .
The statement posted on their website states, “For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled… We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.”
A factoid column at the edge of the statement lists additional information. There are about 375,000 Americans with incomes exceeding $1,000,000. Incomes for the wealthiest one percent rose 281% between 1979 and 2007. At the time of the Great Depression there was a 68% top marginal tax rate; in 1963 it was 91%; in 1976 it fell to 70%; “Today, millionaires have a top marginal tax rate of 35%”.
The case continues to be made that reducing the tax on top earners is not an efficient way to grow the economy. The effect of the expiration of the tax cuts for the top 2% would ‘pay down’ the national debt over 10 years by $700 billion. The tax cuts were not planned for permanence.
One tongue in cheek fact is that 44% of those serving in Congress are millionaires.
Majority leader in the Senate, Harry Reid (D-Nev), has indicated that the issue would not come up again until after Thanksgiving.
The action of PMfFS seems to undercut the Republican position that to not extend the tax cuts to all Americans would harm the economy and those owners of businesses would continue to be reluctant to put employees back to work. Republican leaders continue insisting that the matter of a permanent extension be taken up immediately.
President Obama favors an extension for middle class tax payers with annual incomes up to $250.000 but not for those above $250,000.
Other stories our readers have found helpful:
