October, 22 2021, 11:29am EDT
Patriotic Millionaires Call on Congressional Democrats to Include Billionaires Income Tax in Reconciliation
"Rather than tinkering with changing rates for existing programs, it's time for them to start looking at wholesale structural changes to our tax code."
WASHINGTON
This morning, in response to recent reports that Senator Kyrsten Sinema is allegedly opposed to any increase to corporate tax rates or personal tax rates for wealthy individuals, Morris Pearl the Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and a former managing director at BlackRock, Inc., released the following statement:
"It is flat-out absurd that Senator Sinema is allegedly refusing to raise tax rates on corporations or wealthy individuals. It seems truly unhinged to look at a country full of working people struggling to get by in the wake of a devastating pandemic and decide that it's more important to preserve low tax rates for billionaires and corporations than it is to make significant investments in our families and our communities.
But if that's the political reality we are faced with, then Democrats must get more creative. Rather than tinkering with changing rates for existing programs, it's time for them to start looking at wholesale structural changes to our tax code, starting with the billionaire's income tax promoted by Senator Ron Wyden.
Billionaire wealth in America has risen by over $2.1 trillion just since the start of the pandemic. Yet because we allow the wealthy to defer taxes on capital gains until the time of sale, almost none of the money they have made has been taxed, and much of it will actually never be taxed. It's time for billionaires to start paying their fair share, and it's time for Senator Sinema and Senator Manchin to stand in support of this solution that would raise hundreds of billions of dollars for much-needed investments in our country without costing 99.9% of Americans a penny."
The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.
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'Shameful': Columbia Greenlights Police Crackdown on Anti-War Encampment
Even after dozens of students were arrested, hundreds "rushed to take the place of their classmates" and continued the protest.
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The arrests of dozens of Columbia University and Barnard College students on Thursday "galvanized" other supporters of Palestinian rights on the campuses, as hundreds of students occupied the school's western lawn after New York City police filled at least two buses with protesters who had been detained for setting up an encampment.
"Disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest," chanted hundreds of students as they marched around the area where organizers had set up a tent encampment early Wednesday morning.
Columbia President Minouche Shafik informed the campus community on Thursday that she had authorized the police to clear the encampment.
As it has been in the past, the school has become a center of anti-war protests—and crackdowns by school officials and the police—since Israel began its bombardment of Gaza in October.
Pro-Palestinian students and alumni have demanded that Columbia divest from companies that profit from Israel's apartheid policies in the occupied Palestinian territories and cancel its dual degree program with Tel Aviv University.
In response to pro-Palestinian demonstrations, Columbia in November suspended the campus chapters of Jewish Voice for Peace and Students for Justice in Palestine—an action that pushed the New York Civil Liberties Union and Palestine Legal to file a lawsuit on behalf of the students last month.
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New York City Council member Tiffany Cabán was among those who condemned the university's crackdown on the protests on Thursday.
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