PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES vs. ‘MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS’

PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES vs. ‘MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS’
‘TAX CUTS FOR THEM – CATASTROPHE FOR U.S.’
‘Republican MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS are choosing Themselves and Other Millionaires Over the Country. It’s time to ask WHY’

Washington, DC. – Today, the Patriotic Millionaires released a VIDEO aggressively challenging the motivations of Republican Millionaires in the House and Senate who refuse to raise taxes on THEMSELVES and millionaires LIKE THEM – even in the face of default on the U.S. debt and the likely economic disaster that would follow.

The VIDEO - It’s Time to Ask WHY – highlights more than a dozen examples of Republican ‘Millionaire Politicians’ including: Speaker Boehner, Rep. Eric Cantor, Sen. Mitch McConnell, Rep. Paul Ryan and others, who in a flagrant example of self-interest, have opposed raising taxes despite the crisis facing the country.

The video states: TAX CUTS FOR THEM – CATASTROPHE FOR U.S. It asks Americans to CALL MILLIONAIRE POLITICIANS AND DEMAND THEY PAY THEIR SHARE.

The Patriotic Millionaires are a group of 200+ millionaires who have repeatedly asked elected officials to “put our country ahead of politics” and increase taxes on incomes over $1 million. Their efforts are coordinated by the Agenda Project, a New York-based public policy organization and Wealth for the Common Good.

“More than half of the members of the House and Senate – including members of the Tea Party Caucus – are millionaires,” said Erica Payne, Founder of the Agenda Project and coordinator of the Patriotic Millionaires.  “Patriotic citizens understand millionaires and billionaires need to pay more if we are going to get our fiscal house in order.  Unfortunately many Republican Millionaire Politicians care more about giving themselves a tax cut than doing what is right for the country.  Is patriotism really too much to ask from our politicians?”

According to Open Secrets.org more than HALF of the members of the TEA PARTY CAUCUS are millionaires.  Of the congress at large, research shows that more than 250 members are millionaires - according to an analysis of 2009 data from the Center for Responsive Politics. Just 1 percent of Americans are millionaires. According to the study, congressional members’ personal wealth increased by more than 16 percent between 2008 and 2009. Figures show that the median wealth of a House member is $700,000+, while the median wealth for a senator was over $2 million.  Note: Members of Congress are only required to report their wealth and liabilities in broad ranges, and federal financial disclosures don’t require members of Congress to report certain assets such as personal residences.

Patriotic Millionaires include: more than a dozen current and former Google employees, actress Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie); Susie Buell, Founder of Esprit; John Katzman, the founder of the Princeton Review; legendary philanthropist Michael Steinhardt; famed economist Nouriel Roubini; financial guru Andrew Tobias, top executives from Warburg, Pincus and other major financial firms, Dennis Mehiel, Chairman and Founder, U.S. Corrugated, Inc.; Ron Garret, Venture Capitalist – Former Google employee; Abigail Disney, Filmmaker, philanthropist; Peter Norvig, Computer Scientist; David Brown, Investor / Entrepreneur; Dal LaMagna, Co-Managing Partner IceStone; Leo Hindery, Managing Partner, InterMedia Partners; Frank Jernigan, Former Senior Software Engineer at Google; Michael Barr, Small Business Owner; Charlie Fink, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist; Daniel Berger, Attorney; Linda Gottlieb, Film / TV Producer; David Watson, Music Producer; Josh Kanter, Attorney; Garrett Gruener, Co-Founder / Director; and Dr. Robert Johnson, Executive Director – Institute for New Economic Thinking among others.

For more information about the Patriotic Millionaires, please visit www.patrioticmillionaires.org.

PRESS HIGHLIGHTS FOR PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES
CBS Sunday Morning, New York Magazine’s Intelligencer section, Yahoo News—shared 54,000 times with 11,000+ comments, MSNBC News Live, Freedom Watch, Fox Business News, Bull and Bears, The O’Reilly Factor,  CBS Radio, ABC (400+comments), Salon.com (#2 Most Read and #3 Most Shared, “liked” 4,000 times on Facebook), The Washington Post blog, The Daily Caller, The National Journal, The Washington Independent, The Colorado Independent, The American Independent, Crooks and Liars, The Weekly Standard, Daily Kos, and United Press International, Salon, ABC, CNN, The Washington Post, Fox Business, MSNBC,  Roll Call, American Public Media: Marketplace appearance by Katzman (transcript), Media Matters for America, America News Online.

TIMELINE of PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES CAMPAIGN (from Most Recent)
-July 21, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires release white paper on Tax Fairness, Economic Growth and the Truth About Taxes on Millionaires and Billionaires

-June 7^th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires release VIDEO message to Speaker Boehner and Members of Congress.

-June 6^th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires hold major press conference demanding Speaker Boehner increase taxes on Americans making over $1 million per year.

-April 25^th, 2011
Patriotic Millionaires Respond to Hatch Letter. Read the full letter here.

-April 20^th, 2011
Senator Hatch writes a letter to the Patriotic Millionaires asserting that they can make voluntary contributions to the IRS if they choose to do so.  Furthermore, he states, “this debt crisis is not caused because we tax too little.  It is because our nation spends too much.”  Read the full letter here.

-April 15^th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires respond to Senator Hatch’s comments on the Senate floor:
“A few of us voluntarily writing a check to the IRS will not fix the problem that Sen. Hatch and his colleagues created for our country with their fiscal irresponsibility.  It will take the work of all Patriotic Americans to create a strong foundation for our continued prosperity.  We are willing to do our part by paying higher taxes.  It is clear Senator Hatch and many of his colleagues are not willing to do theirs. We challenge Senator Hatch and the other millionaire members of the Senate to put their country first and raise taxes on people like them – and us - who make more than a million dollars a year. In the meantime, if Senator Hatch would like to make a personal contribution to the IRS to help his country, we pledge to match his contribution.”

-April 13^th, 2011
Senator Hatch mocks the Patriotic Millionaires campaign stating: “Well, as the Ranking Member on the Senate Finance Committee, I feel obligated to inform Mr. Plouffe that the President, and all of those rich liberal Democrats who are eager to pay higher taxes, can do just that. They can write a check to the IRS and make an extra payment on their tax returns to pay down the federal debt.  The option is right there at the bottom of their tax return. America awaits these checks.”

-April 13^th, 2011
The Patriotic Millionaires launch the second iteration of their campaign, urging President Obama to increase taxes on all millionaires in America, stating: “Please do the right thing for our country. Raise our taxes.”

-November 18^th, 2010
The Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength launched their first campaign, bringing together over 100 individuals who make over $1 million a year and garnering extensive media coverage.