Wealthy People Show Support for Protests with new website: “We are the 1 percent. We stand with the 99 percent.”

Washington DC – Resource Generation and Wealth for Common Good today announced a new website for wealthy people to show their support for the Occupy movement. Already over 100 members of “the 1 percent,” including young entrepreneurs, business owners and wealthy individuals, have posted their support on the new website “We are the 1 percent. We stand with the 99 percent.” (http://westandwiththe99percent.tumblr.com/)

“Those of us with more than we need and who believe in a more just distribution of resources can stand up and tell the truth about how the deck has been stacked in our favor. We need to say that we think it’s wrong too,” said Elspeth Gilmore, co-director of Resource Generation. “Just as the 99 percent has been a powerful rallying cry, the 1 percent has come to represent those who hold the majority of this country’s resources and have created—and benefited from—the financial and economic crises we now face. One hundred percent of us need a different world.”

Organizers were inspired by the “We are the 99 percent” blog that has been collecting the Occupy movement protester’s stories, and launched the parallel site We are the 1 percent, We stand with the 99 percent for wealthy people to join in, lend their voices and stand in solidarity with the protesters’ messages of challenging economic inequality and raising taxes on the wealthy.

Carl Schweser, founder of Schweser Study Program for the CFA (now called Kaplan Schweser), posted: “I made millions studying the math of mortgages and bonds and helping bankers pass the Chartered Financial Analyst Exam. It isn’t fair that I have retired in comfort after a career working with financial instruments while people who worked as nurses, teachers, soldiers, etc. are worried about paying for their future, their healthcare, and their children’s educations. They are the backbone of this country that allowed me to succeed. I am willing to pay more taxes so that everyone can look forward to a secure future like I do. I am the 1%. I stand with the 99%. (Which equals 100% of America.) Tax me.”

Farhad Ebrahimi, who has been involved in Occupy Boston says, “I have inherited an amount of money that is much more than I need. I AM THE 1%. My taxes are at a historical low, and the influence of money on our government is at a historical high. These are not good things! So what am I doing about it? (1) I am donating the vast majority of my money to social change organizations. (2) I am personally advocating for the repair of our broken system. I STAND WITH THE 99%. I am part of Occupy Boston. My money gives me no special influence here. That’s the way it should be.”

“When so many are struggling – to access healthcare, pay back their student loans, and make ends meet – the 1 percent has more than enough. Our networks include thousands of wealthy people who recognize our economy is out of balance and that wealthy people should pay more for the common good. It’s in the self-interest of the 1 percent to have a society that works all of us, and we anticipate many more will join us,” said Alison Goldberg, Coordinator of Wealth for Common Good.

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Resource Generation organizes young people with wealth to leverage resources and privilege for social change and is a co-sponsor of the site along with Wealth for Common Good, a network of wealthy individuals and business leaders speaking out for fair taxation.

Download (mp3)

“I pay a lesser percentage of my income now than I have paid at any time in the past.  If our country is really broke, we can’t afford to give tax cuts to people like me.” - Paul Egerman, Founder of Escription and Patriotic Millionaire

“It is self-defeating to pursue these tax policies, and it is inconsistent with our values as Americans.  We need to throw out the Bush tax cuts in a hurry and begin the process of restoring some fiscal sanity to the country’s budget.” - Dennis Mehiel, Chairman of U.S. Corrugated and Patriotic Millionaire

“I am in favor of higher tax rates for those of us who can afford that.  I am also in favor of lower tax rates for the middle class. I think this whole idea of supply side trickle down economics has clearly failed…  My business needs a strong middle class.  My business is dependent upon employment increasing and on the housing market.” - Frank Patitucci, CEO and Chairman, NuCompass Mobility Services Inc. and Patriotic Millionaire

“It really irks me, as an American, that people who make money by trading in markets pay significantly less taxes than those people who actually go out and work for it. I want to give back to this country and give everybody else the same opportunities I had.” - Dal Lamagna, Co-Managing Partner IceStone and Patriotic Millionaire

“There are some in Congress who believe that the best way to deal with the struggling economy right now is to extend the tax cuts and see if they work the second time around. They didn’t work the first time, and they aren’t going to work the second time.  If they are extended, they will cost Americans $5.5 trillion dollars, a huge blow to the economy. We need to do something different or we are going to end up where Paul Ryan wants to take us; with a country that doesn’t have a Medicare system, that has a shadow of a Medicaid system and where even wealthy people won’t be doing as well as they were during the good ‘ol days of Bill Clinton.” -Robert McIntyre, Director of Citizens for Tax Justice, author of “The Bush Tax Cuts After Ten Years”

Contact Alison Goldberg at alison@wealthforcommongood.org for a recording of the entire press conference.

Washington, DC. April 13, 2011 — Amid fierce federal budget debates, and press reports about large companies such as General Electric paying no US income taxes, more than 800 business organizations and business people are publicly calling on Congress and the President to stop corporate tax haven abuse. They say that tax dodging deprives our nation of revenue needed for a strong economy.

They have signed a statement from a coalition of business organizations, Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse. The statement says in part, “Offshore tax havens reward tax evaders, rob public coffers of needed revenue and offload taxes to responsible businesses and households.”  Find the full statement and a partial list of the signers here: http://businessagainsttaxhavens.org

“Small businesses are the lifeblood of local economies. We pay our fair share of taxes, shop locally, support our schools and actually generate most of the new jobs. So why do we have to subsidize the U.S. multinationals that use offshore tax havens to avoid paying taxes?” said  Frank Knapp, President and CEO of The South Carolina Small Business Chamber of Commerce. “We need to end tax havens and use that revenue to invest in growing our small businesses. That is how we create a healthy economy.”

“Our current upside down corporate tax system forces a U.S. manufacturer or insurance company, community-oriented bank, retailer, or local technology firm to compete against another company based not on product quality and services, but on accounting gymnastics. As the chairman and CEO of a U.S. technology company, I believe it is myopic tax policy to force domestic enterprises to compete on an unlevel playing field against companies that use offshore tax havens to relocate profits,” said Paul Egerman, CEO and Chairman, eScription, Boston, MA.

David Levine, Executive Director of The American Sustainable Business Council, which represents more than 70,000 businesses in the U.S., said, “We represent a wide range of businesses that are being forced to compete against U.S. multinationals that use tax havens as profit centers. This enables them to drive small and mid-sized and other beneficial companies out of business. If that’s not anti-business, I don’t know what is. Let’s reclaim those dollars and use them to build our U.S. businesses and economy”

Ben Kyriagis, President of Small Business Minnesota and President of World Trade Network in Minneapolis, MN, said, “If a US citizen was using foreign bank accounts and tax havens overseas to evade US taxes, he could go to prison. Yet hundreds of large U.S. corporations do exactly that every day and also claim to have the same rights as citizens. If they have the same rights as citizens they should also be subject to the same laws as all US citizens.”

Debra Ruh, Founder and CEO of TecAccess of Rockville, VA, said, “As a small business person, I’m incensed that other companies in our country are able to game the system and force the rest of us to take up the slack. When they avoid their normal tax obligations, that puts more of a burden on responsible and sustainable businesses like mine.”

Business and Investors Against Tax Haven Abuse supports policies that end tax avoidance and evasion through offshore tax havens.  The petition is cosponsored by Business for Shared Prosperity, Wealth for the Common Good and the American Sustainable Business Council.

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Note to editors: Business leaders and owner/operators are available for comment.

or jbeck@agendaproject.org

**** www.patrioticmillionaires.org

Patriotic Millionaires Strike Again

Millionaires to President, Reid and Boehner:

“Increase our taxes NOW!”

Signers include: Director Doug Liman (Bourne Identity, Mr and Mrs Smith and Fair Game), actress Edie Falco (Nurse Jackie), the founder of Esprit, the founder of Ask.com, the founder of the Princeton Review, legendary philanthropist Michael Steinhardt, top Google engineers, famed economist Nouriel Roubini, financial guru Andrew Tobias, top executives from Blackrock and Warburg, Pincus, and many more.

In a letter to President Obama, Hon. Harry Reid, and Hon. John Boehner, today some of the country’s most prominent millionaires from business, entertainment, finance and technology asked the nation’s leaders to RAISE THEIR TAXES FOR THE GOOD OF THE COUNTRY.

Although the change would cost them thousands of dollars, the group says they want to do their “fair share.”   Each of the Patriotic Millionaires who signed the letter have made more than $1 million in a year and are THE SAME people who would pay the increased  taxes.

THE LETTER

Dear Mr. President, Hon. Harry Reid, and Hon. John Boehner,

We are writing to urge you to put our country ahead of politics.
For the fiscal health of our nation and the well-being of our fellow citizens, we ask that you increase taxes on incomes over $1,000,000.
We make this request as loyal citizens who now or in the past earned incomes of $1,000,000 per year or more.
Our country faces a choice – we can pay our debts and build for the future, or we can shirk our financial responsibilities and cripple our nation’s potential.
Our country has been good to us.  It provided a foundation on which we could succeed.  Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have.
Please do the right thing for our country.  Raise our taxes.

Sincerely,

Patriotic Millionaires

The Patriotic Millionaires created a media firestorm during last year’s lame duck session when they called on the President to ‘stand firm against those who would put politics ahead of their country’ (press coverage below).

“These Patriotic Millionaires are willing to put duty to the country first – they hope the President and the leaders in the House and Senate will do the same thing,” said Erica Payne, Founder of the Agenda Project and lead coordinator of the millionaires campaign with Wealth for the Common Good.

“Raising millionaire tax rates could raise $60-$80 billion a year in revenue,” said Alison Goldberg, Coordinator of Wealth for the Common Good.

“This small monetary sacrifice is both an ethical and patriotic decision, made in the hopes of allowing the United States of America to continue to be a leader economically, politically, and morally,” said Garrett Gruener, founder of Ask.com.

“We have only three choices: cut spending, raise taxes, or go bankrupt.  Congress seems to be utterly incapable of cutting spending, and I don’t want the country to go bankrupt,” said Ron Garret a former Google software engineer and former Principal Research Scientist at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength 1.0 received major media coverage including:

ABC, CNN, The Washington Post, Fox Business (twice), MSNBC, CBS, and  Yahoo News, Salon, Forbes,  Slatest, PressTV, Personal Finance Bulletin, Daily Kos, The Nation, New YorkMagazine, Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Chicago Sun Times

The letter supports the bill introduced yesterday by Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) that would create five new federal income tax brackets with higher tax rates and could raise more than $78 billion per year.

At her press conference announcing the bill, Rep. Schakowsky said, “It’s time for millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share. This isn’t about punishment or revenge. It’s about fairness. It’s about avoiding budget cuts that harm middle class families and those who aspire to it. We can choose to cut education, job creation and health care, or we can choose to ask those who can contribute more to do so.”

Wealth for the Common Good is a network of business and civic leaders, wealthy individuals and partners, promoting fair and adequate taxation to support public investment in a healthy economy. At the end of 2010, Wealth for the Common Good recruited over 400 high-income signers to a petition to end the high-end Bush-era tax cuts.

In the letter for new millionaire tax rates, Wealth for the Common Good and the millionaire signers say: “Our country is facing major economic challenges right now. We all need to pay our fair share to resolve these issues and make long overdue investments in education, health, energy and infrastructure.”

“Creating these new rates could help generate $78 billion in revenue that can be reinvested in jobs creation, schools, transportation and other essential programs. Raising millionaire taxes is a fair and necessary step toward economic sustainability and growth.”

The current top tax bracket has a rate of 35%, beginning at $373,000 in income. As a result, individuals who have incomes of $400,000 pay the same top rate as those who have incomes over $1 billion.

The Fairness in Taxation Act would create new tax brackets for income starting at $1 million and ending with a $1 billion bracket. The new brackets and their accompanying rates would be:

* $1-10 million: 45%
* $10-20 million: 46%
* $20-100 million: 47%
* $100 million to $1 billion: 48%
* $1 billion and over: 49%

The bill would also tax capital gains and dividend income as ordinary income for those taxpayers with income over $1 million.

The Agenda Project is a New York based public policy institute.

Wealth for the Common Good is a network of business and civic leaders, wealthy individuals and partners, promoting fair and adequate taxation to support public investment in a healthy economy.

Washington, D.C., December 8, 2010 – While Congress debates how to address the expiring Bush-era tax cuts, Wealth for the Common Good today joins with Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a campaign of the Agenda Project, and a wide coalition of grassroots organizations to deliver 50,000 petition signatures calling on Congress to stand up for working families and allow high-income tax cuts to expire.

Wealth for the Common Good and the Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength have over 100 public signers with annual incomes of over $1 million and 500+ public signers with household incomes over $250,000 who want to see tax cuts for the wealthy expire as scheduled on December 31, 2010.  They include a dozen Google execs, a Blackrock MD, Chairman Emeritus of the NY Mercantile Exchange, multiple Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, the co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s, the founder of Ask.com, the CEO of Men’s Warehouse, the founder of the Princeton Review, and many others.

“There are only 375,000 people in the entire country who make more than $1 million a year,” said Agenda Project founder Erica Payne. “They pay lower taxes now than they have for most of the last 80 years.  Given the financial situation our country faces, it is grossly irresponsible to let these millionaires pay less than their fair share.”

“We’re alarmed that President Obama is compromising on high income tax cuts,” said Alison Goldberg, spokesperson for Wealth for the Common Good.  “Hundreds of the people who would benefit from high-income tax cuts are speaking out that they don’t think their tax cuts should be extended.”

“I don’t like paying taxes, but they are necessary for our country to operate.  Extending tax cuts for the wealthy would be a worse mistake than creating them in the first place,” said Bill Gawthrop, Former Founder, President, Chairman of the Board of Green Mountain Geophysics.

“When main street consumers are doing better, we all will do better,” said Mitchell Gold, CEO of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Company, a home furnishings business. “As a business owner who has created hundreds of jobs over the past two decades, I know we need tax and economic policies that build strong and sustainable economic growth.  And while my tax rate was higher ten years ago, I was making more money and my business was doing far better. Tax cuts for the wealthiest two percent will not help Main Street, it will only further mortgage our future.”

These organizations are joining the Other 98 percent, True Majority, and others to combine their signatures for delivery to Congressional offices on Wednesday.

Wealth for the Common Good is a network of business and civic leaders, wealthy individuals and partners, promoting fair and adequate taxation to support public investment in a healthy economy.

Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength is a campaign of The Agenda Project, a New York based public policy institute.

These high-income earners join thousands of others to “Call on Congress and President Obama to allow the Bush-era tax cuts for those with taxable incomes over $200,000 (individual) and $250,000 (couple) to expire on Dec. 31, 2010. The increased revenue, an estimated $700 billion over 10 years, should go toward making long overdue investments in education, health, job creation, renewable energy, transportation and other infrastructure.”

* Monday, June 14th, 5:00-7:00 pm

* Tuesday, June 15th, 11:30 am-1:15 pm

You are invited to hear Ann Manning, Outreach Director for Wealth for the Common Good, speak on economic inequality and the role of business leaders and wealthy individuals in advocating for shared prosperity.

We know many of you are concerned about the state of our vital public institutions and services- whether quality public education for children, transportation infrastructure, green energy projects, unemployment compensation, affordable health care, effective public health services, or a high functioning judiciary.

Wealth for the Common Good is working to shift the stuck conversation about taxes and help pave the way for progressive tax reform, so our public institutions have the resources they need from those of us with the greatest capacity to pay. Right now they are leading a campaign, calling on President Obama and Congress to allow the Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2010 on household incomes over $235,000. This could raise an estimated $45 billion in annual revenue.

Join us and learn more about the issues involved.

For more information and to RSVP, contact ann@wealthforcommongood.org.

Co-sponsors:

Headwaters Foundation for Justice is a catalyst for social, racial, economic and environmental justice. Through grantmaking and capacity building support to grassroots organizations, our goal is to foster just and sustainable communities that embrace social racial, economic and environmental equity.

Growth & Justice is a leading progressive voice on state economic issues committed to making Minnesota’s economy simultaneously more prosperous and fair.

Recent Poll Shows Majority of Americans in Both Political Parties Favor Increased Taxes on Wealthy Americans

Contact: Kristi Ceccarossi, 617-477-8630, ext. 307, kristi@wealthforcommongood.org

Boston, MA, April 6, 2010– In the wake of a Quinnipiac University poll which found that 60 percent of Americans in both major political parties are in favor of raising income taxes on households making more than $250,000, a new report released today exposes how increases in tax breaks over the past 50 years have favored the most affluent. The report also details an Economic Tax Recovery Plan that would raise $450 billion in revenue by ending unfair tax benefits to the wealthiest Americans. Download the report.

The study, commissioned by Wealth for the Common Good (WFCG), an organization of high-net worth individuals and business leaders, shows in the last decade alone, individuals with incomes over $250,000 have received more than $700 billion in tax cuts.

Key Findings in the report include:
Over the last half-century, America’s wealthiest taxpayers have seen their tax outlays, as a share of income, drop by as much as two-thirds for the highest-income grouping the IRS tracks. During the same period, the tax outlay for middle-class Americans has not decreased.

America’s highest earners — the top 400 — have seen their share of income paid in federal income tax plummet from 51.2 percent in 1955 to 16.6 percent in 2007, the most recent year with top 400 statistics available.

Tax cuts for the wealthy between 2001-2008 cost the U.S. Treasury $700 billion and were added directly to the national debt. Retaining these tax cuts for another decade will cost an additional $826 billion.

“After 50 years of tax cuts by Kennedy, Reagan and Bush II, the middle class is paying the same share of income as they did in 1960.  The richest 3 percent have gotten the gargantuan share of tax cuts,” said Chuck Collins, co-founder of WFCG.

Authors of the study propose an “Economic Recovery Tax Program,” which they project will collect some $450 billion in new revenue for the federal government through tax increases only on individuals with household incomes of over household incomes of over $250,000. This program would also discourage financial speculation, strengthen the overall economy, and introduce greater transparency, fairness, and simplicity to the tax code.

This report is part of a larger campaign by Wealth for the Common Good to end the Bush era tax cuts, which the group says could generate some $45 billion annually in federal revenue. Nearly 300 of America’s top-earners, along with thousands of other Americans, have signed the group’s on-line petition calling on Congress and President Obama to let tax cuts on high-income taxpayers to expire at the end of 2010.

Featuring:

Jamie Johnson, “Born Rich” filmmaker and Vanity Fair blogger
Eric Schoenberg, investor and Columbia Business School Professor
Chuck Collins and Alison Goldberg, Wealth for the Common Good founders

Learn how those of us in the philanthropy world can leverage billions of dollars toward issues we care about by speaking up for fair tax policies.

This Tax Day, members of Wealth for the Common Good are lifting up a refreshing new narrative about financial success and breaking open a very stuck conversation about taxes and the health of our communities.

Our speakers will talk about how philanthropic leaders can help promote progressive tax reform and ensure the ‘Tea Bag’ anti-tax movement doesn’t dominate the conversation this year.

Location:
North Star Fund 520 8th Avenue, Suite 2203 (between 36th and 37th)

*Reception begins at 5:30 PM; Program begins at 6 PM.

To RSVP, contact Alison at alison@wealthforcommongood.org.

Sponsoring Organizations and Individuals:

Astraea Foundation, Business for Shared Prosperity, Institute for Policy Studies, North Star Fund, Resource Generation, Third Wave Foundation, Wealth for the Common Good, Adam Blank, Bill Lyons, Jason Franklin and Eric Schoenberg.