Forty-seven millionaires asked President Obama to let the Bush tax cuts expire for anyone making more than a million dollars a year. Among the richly blessed who put their country before politics are Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry's, trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, real estate developer Robert Bowditch Jr., publisher Win McCormack and hedge fund manager Michael Steinhardt.
They launched a campaign and a website to argue that fiscal responsibility begins with people who can afford it. (That would include members of Congress, more than half of whom are millionaires.)
They sent a letter to Obama that said, in part,
...we are eager to do our fair share. We don’t need more tax cuts, and we understand that cutting our taxes will increase the deficit and the debt burden carried by other taxpayers. The country needs to meet its financial obligations in a just and responsible way.Joe Conasen at Salon reports that some millionaires scoffed at the project.
At least two airily dismissed the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and above -- which will cost well over $700 billion over the coming decade -- as "small potatoes."One super-rich investor said "anyone who has money is made to feel that they're bad" (our hearts are bleeding).
Check out their "Fiscal Strength" website. It reminds us that during the Great Depression, millionaires' top tax rate was 68 percent. Now it's 35 percent -- and for some, 15 percent.
