As GOP Releases Tax Plan, Patriotic Millionaires Issue Dire Warning to the Middle Class

Today, in response to the official release of the House GOP Tax Plan, the Patriotic Millionaires issued a dire warning to middle class Americans:

"When millionaires get a tax cut, the middle class will pay. These ridiculous public speeches about 'reform' are nothing but a cover up for a tax code that deposits a trillion and a half dollars into the bank accounts of the richest people in the country and then hands the bill to the middle class. This is the same group of people who just tried to take health care away from 20 million Americans. Now they're trying to rob the Treasury so they have an excuse to gut Medicare, Medicaid, education, and everything else that makes this country work.

Speaker Paul Ryan and President Trump like to pretend this is some kind of economic philosophy. It is not. It's a payoff to their millionaire friends and to Republican campaign contributors. Trickle down has never worked, it will never work, and it is embarrassing to the country that lawmakers continue to spread lies about the economic effects of their tax policies.

Here is the truth: the billionaires who control Republican lawmakers want to live in a country with a tiny number of rich people, millions of poor people, and no middle class. They want special treatment. They think they deserve special treatment. For proof, look no further than the Treasury Secretary and his wife's boondoggle trip to Ft. Knox to watch the solar eclipse on the taxpayers' dime. Millionaires like that puff up their chests, call themselves 'Job Creators,' and insist the economy will collapse if (god forbid) they are asked to pay a single penny more in taxes. Nonsense. Millionaires put their pants on leg at a time, just like everyone else. Consumer demand is the only real 'job creator.' And nothing is going to collapse if millionaires pay their fair share, except for possibly an over-inflated ego or two."

- Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former BlackRock executive

Patriotic Millionaires Taxpayer Action Center Launch

To fight the GOP tax plan, this morning the Patriotic Millionaires officially launched the Taxpayer Action Center, www.taxactioncenter.com, a one-stop hub for taxpayers to learn about the issues, read what the GOP bill really means for themselves and their families, and take action. Whether it's expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit, preventing the repeal of the estate tax, or ensuring multinational corporations pay their fair share, the Taxpayer Action Center has the information and tools people need to make their voices heard above the clamor of the professional lobbyists and powerful interest groups who have shaped the tax bill so far. The Taxpayer Action Center was designed and implemented with contributions from think tanks and grassroots organizations including the Institute for Policy Studies, the Economic Policy Institute, FACT Coalition, Public Citizen, Hedge Clippers, Prosperity Now, Center for American Progress, Indivisible, Not One Penny, NETWORK, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Take On Wall Street, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Americans for Tax Fairness, and Citizens for Tax Justice.

The opening image of the Taxpayer Action Center is that of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and his wife Louise Linton walking off a government jet, an image chosen for a very specific reason. From his government-funded trip to watch the solar eclipse at Fort Knox to his peddling of the tired lie of trickle-down economics, Secretary Mnuchin is the poster child for this administration's disregard for the American taxpayer. His claims about this tax plan reveal a fundamental misunderstand of how the economy works, and one wonders how any middle class American could trust someone so out of touch to actually stand up for their interests.

To schedule an interview or for further comment, please contact Sam Quigley at sam@patrioticmillionaires.org.