Front Row Washington
Tracking U.S. politics
Liberal millionaires to US: Please hike my taxes
Some liberal millionaires are putting their money where their mouths are: they are calling on Democrats to stay true to their word and allow the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest to expire next year.
Joining the likes of Warren Buffett and George Soros, a calling themselves “patriotic millionaires” want President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats to raise their taxes to levels before former President George W. Bush cut them in 2001.
“We have done very well over the last several years,” about 50 millionaires including several early Google Inc. executives and the founder of IAC’s Ask.com, say in a letter to leaders. “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.”
Obama wants to let lower tax rates expire above the first $200,000 of an individual’s income but has been clashing with Republicans, and some in his own party, in Congress on a deal to prevent all taxpayers from seeing hikes on January 1.
The group is asking policymakers to extend the higher rates for those making more than $1 million. New York Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer has suggested that benchmark, as have some others.
“They felt comfortable speaking for themselves and their income bracket,” a spokeswoman for the group said.
The group says it will make dozens of phone calls to lobby Obama, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
Obama’s rhetoric in defense of letting the rates rise has changed over the past year. Instead of calling the rich ‘fat cats,’ he has been increasingly citing the impact on the burgeoning budget deficit.
Republicans want to extend lower rates on all tax groups and threatened to block a deal in the Senate where some conservative Democrats have sided with them.
Photo Credit: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton (U.S. currency printing plates at the Museum of American Finance in New York); REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (Pelosi and Reid)
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they do realize that nothing is stopping them from paying more in taxes …. they are completely at their liberty to pay as much as they like – as long as it IS or is MORE than the IRS says is due.
Most filthy rich are invested in the Global Economy, Their primary focus is on working for a new world order which they will eventually control. They aren’t concerned with individual countries or borders, including America. It is their long range goal to dominate Global trade… They are ultra-left leaning, and for Big Government, United Nations, IMF, World Bank, Nafta and other global treaty’s that usurp our nations sovereignty and give them more and more control over FREE MEN, like you and I.
“Ultra left leaning?” That is just hilarious. IMF, World Bank, NAFTA, CAFTA, and all the other free trade (global monopoly) deals are institutions and policies pushed by the far right. Ultra left…oh, you’re killing me…
btrask3, don’t renew your Mensa membership
Interesting how the rich left wants more taxes for everyone but fights eliminating the 86,000 page tax code for a set of flat tax rates with no exceptions.
Perhaps it is because they know they can always avoid paying taxes under the current code, or move their money off shore at a whim.
If they really want to pay more taxes nothing is stopping them.
JUST SIGN THE CHECKS WARREN, GEORGE, & BILL…
Everyone pay attention now to the first few obviously Republican posters (@ cashmereninja, btrask3 and bobw111) because it is in your best interest to recognize that these short sighted and really mostly just ignorant ways of thinking are perpetuated by their very wealthy GOP leaders and has become the standard party line for the GOP and their constituents. Their lack of new ideas and the practice of only shooting down other’s ideas is characteristic of the GOP and even to some extent Karl Rove’s Tea Party. Yes, I did say KR’s TP.
The lack of free thinkers or critical thoughts of their party’s membership and the ability to recognize that things are always changing and evolving with or without their participation is what sets us apart. They strongly believe if for no other reason than Fox News told them so, that the only way to be is “you are either with us or against us”. There is no in between or allowance for dissention and this in my estimation is the very epitome of anti-American because as far back as I can remember, the very essence of our country was the fact that we not only allowed dissention but that the very best solutions came from opposing points of view being heard and even encouraged (*gasp*). Can anyone tell me the last time that the GOP had opposing points of view within itself? They don’t because they are blind followers who have no critical thinking skills of their own and are too lazy to dig deeper to understand not only the issues, but the outcome of disastrous policies that have been implemented previously such as trickle-down economics. Didn’t they learn the lesson already that that $hit doesn’t work? No, they haven’t because all they want to do is “go back”. I say the GOP and Fox News should be made enemy number one of the US because as far as I’m concerned they do nothing but try to terrorize and control most things through fear and disinformation.