'Tax The Rich. Save America.'
May 18, 2021

Monday was Tax Day in the United States this year and the Patriotic Millionaires—rich Americans who advocate for greater redistribution of wealth and power to working people in the U.S.—are using the occasion to launch "an offensive" against the "selfish billionaires, Wall Street tycoons, and CEOs" who are trying to undermine progressive tax reforms that would require the country's wealthiest individuals and corporations to pay a fairer share.

The nation's super-rich, said the group in a statement, are "fighting tooth and nail to protect their own special tax breaks and misleading the American people" about proposals to raise taxes on a tiny minority of high-net worth households and corporate giants and to bolster enforcement to ensure the collection of trillions of dollars in revenue currently lost to tax evasion.

To counter the powerful interests "standing in the way" of President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats' legislative efforts, the group is displaying three mobile billboards on Monday—two in Washington, D.C. and one in New York City. People in those cities will see images "challenging the faces of wealth inequality in this country and calling for higher taxes on the rich."

One of the trucks being deployed in Washington displays a video billboard featuring three billionaire CEOs—Amazon's Jeff Bezos (net worth $188 billion), Tesla's Elon Musk ($164 billion), and Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg ($118 billion)—laughing maniacally with the caption, "Tax me if you can!"

Tax Me If You Can

Another D.C. truck shows images of the three men with the caption, "Tax the Rich. Save America. Yes, it's really that simple."

Tax the Rich. Save America.

Finally, in New York City, a third truck features an image of the iconic Wall Street Bull with the caption, "Cut the Bullsh*t. Tax the Rich."

Cut the Bullshit. Tax the Rich.

Each mobile billboard is making several stops along the way and directing passersby to TaxtheRich.com, which contains additional information about the campaign.

In New York City, the truck is stopping at: the Wall Street Bull; the Federal Reserve Building; the office of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); Bezos' apartment, where a protest is planned for 2:00 pm EST; and the so-called "Billionaires' Row" on 57th Street.

In Washington, D.C., the trucks are planning a tour of Capitol Hill destinations, including another one of Bezos' homes, the residence of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and the national headquarters of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

In a video shared Monday morning on Twitter, members of the Patriotic Millionaires begged U.S. lawmakers to, as the group's chair, Morris Pearl, said: "Tax me and everybody like me."

"As a millionaire, tax me more," said Kristin Luck. "For the good of our country."

"Tax me. Tax me. Tax me," Stephen Prince added emphatically. "Today!"

Republished from Common Dreams (Kenny Stancil, staff writer) under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).

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