House Speaker John Boehner may not want to raise marginal tax rates on the wealthiest Americans, but he’d probably be surprised to hear the view of one subset of the so-called 1 percent. They give us our number of the day: 220.
That’s how many folks make up the Patriotic Millionaires, a two-year-old group that is asking for higher tax rates on the rich — on themselves.
These are certifiably rich people, including game publisher Doug Carlston and founder of the Men’s Warehouse George Zimmer.
About a dozen of the Patriotic Millionaires visited Washington, D.C., yesterday to advocate seemingly reasonable policies such as a Clinton-era top tax rate of 39.6 percent. Considering the escalation we’ve seen in incomes among the top 1 percent, they also want a new tax bracket for anyone making more than $10 million a year.
Yes, these Patriotic Millionaires would like their own tax rates to go up. Do you have to be nuts to actually want to pay more in taxes? No. Not nuts. In fact, you don’t even have to buy in to a sense of fairness.
One Patriotic Millionaire told Mother Jones magazine that he’s acting in pure self-interest, pointing out that the middle class are his customers and he needs them to be financially healthy. Here’s what it’s come to: Even some of those who would end up paying the most under a proposed tax hike are starting to see the big picture.
Now, if only John Boehner, Grover Norquist and the rest of the mathematically challenged members of the GOP would adjust their focus, everyone would be better off in the long run.
