45 millionaires ask Obama to end tax cut for rich
Martin Wisckol, Politics reporter
“We have done very well over the last several years,” reads their letter, posted on their website. “Now, during our nation’s moment of need, 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.
“Letting tax cuts for incomes over $1,000,000 expire, is an important step in that direction.”
Signers include hedge-fund wizard Michael Steinhardt, trial lawyer Guy Saperstein, and Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s fame.
The Salon.com report on the group notes the Patriotic Millionaires effort “happens to appear on the same day as a new study from the Center for Responsive Politics revealing that half of the members of the House and the Senate are millionaires. That contrasts sharply with the general population, of whom fewer than 1 percent can claim millionaire status.”
(At the top of the list is Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, with holdings exceeding $303.5 million – or about half of what billionaire Meg Whitman spent half that on her failed bid for governor.)
Bush-era tax cuts are due to expire at the end of the year. While Obama had previously indicated a preference for extending the tax cuts only for those households making less than $250,000, since Republicans took the House on Nov. 2 the Administration has signaled it may be open to extending all income-tax cuts – a position favored by Republicans.
Republicans expect Democrats to try to make the under $250,000-tax break permanent and set the other to expire before the 2014 election, said Jeff Burton, deputy director for the National Republican Campaign Committee, at a South Orange County Chamber of Commerce luncheon today. (Burton, the U.S. chamber’s Dick Castner, and yours truly were panelists.)
The strategy appears to be to force incumbent Republicans to vote to extend tax breaks for the wealthy just before seeking reelection. Burton said Republicans will fight to keep both tax breaks in the same package, either both permanent or, more likely, both temporary.
totalbuzz.ocregister.com/2010/11/19/45-millionaires-ask-obama-to-end-tax-cut-for-rich/44894/
Nov. 19, 2010