We are writing to urge you to stand firm against those who would put politics ahead of their country.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you allow tax cuts on incomes over $1,000,000 to expire at the end of this year as scheduled.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned an income of $1,000,000 per year or more.
We have done very well over the last several years. 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.
Alexis Levinson writes in The Daily Caller:
Three of the “Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength,” a group of 90 plus millionaires who signed a letter to President Obama asking him to allow the tax cuts on people with an income of $1 million or more each year to expire, say that despite their call to raise taxes, they will not pay the government more than they are required to, nor will they cut the government a personal check.
“I pay the taxes that I am required to pay, just like everybody else,” said Ron Garret, a software engineer turned angel investor who earned his fortune at Google. “I follow the law, I play by the rules, even when I don’t like the rules, even when I think the rules are wrong.”
In a democracy, he said, “the right way to address it…is to try to get the rules changed, not to go and play by your own rules.”
“I do everything I can to pay the least taxes that I’m required to pay,” said John Katzman, CEO of 2tor and founder of Princeton Review. “I’m not proposing that anybody decides to send a check to the government, and I’m not going to do that. The tax code was written to be followed, not to say it’s wrong.”
“I don’t bend over backwards to find every tax loophole,” he added, “but if I’m due a deduction, I take it.”
Does he see any hypocrisy in his calling for higher taxes, then?
“Not a bit.”
Morris Pearl, treasurer of the investment management firm BlackRock, echoed this sentiment. “I don’t want to pay more than my fair share,” he said, “but I don’t want to pay less either. Nobody wants to pay more taxes—that’s not the thing. But I think everyone wants to have the advantage of living in the greatest country in the world.”
