UPDATE: Through a message sent to Maryland Juice on Twitter, Netrino President Michael Barr confirms that he is indeed the Maryland millionaire in question.
The LA Times ran an eye-grabbing headline earlier this week: "Millionaires group to lobby for higher taxes -- on themselves." Their article was about a renewed push by politically active millionaires to persuade Congress to roll back the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. This week the millionaires, operating under the name "Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength," focused on members of the "Deficit Super-Committee," like Maryland's Rep. Chris Van Hollen:
The LA Times ran an eye-grabbing headline earlier this week: "Millionaires group to lobby for higher taxes -- on themselves." Their article was about a renewed push by politically active millionaires to persuade Congress to roll back the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy. This week the millionaires, operating under the name "Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength," focused on members of the "Deficit Super-Committee," like Maryland's Rep. Chris Van Hollen:
As the deadline nears for the congressional “super committee” to come up with a deficit-slashing plan, a group of people who have made $1 million a year or more is pressing lawmakers to raise tax rates on the nation’s highest income earners.Maryland Juice checked out the millionaires' website and noted that the group's public signers include 5 Virginia millionaires, 3 District of Columbia millionaires and only 1 Maryland millionaire....
Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, an organization formed in 2010, said it’s sending a delegation of 21 members to Washington on Wednesday to seek meetings with super committee senators and representatives.
The group’s message: “Any super committee deal that does not include higher taxes for millionaires should be killed....”
Patriotic Millionaires was formed a year ago as Congress debated whether to extend the personal income tax cuts that took effect during President George W. Bush’s first term. Ultimately, Congress and President Obama agreed on a two-year extension of the cuts.
But Obama in September called for a new tax on millionaires as a way to raise revenue.
At a minimum, the millionaires group wants the top tax rate for the highest earners to return to 39.6%, from the current 35%, according to Erica Payne, a spokeswoman for the organization....
The group says it has about 200 members in all, including more than a dozen current and former Google employees, actress Edie Falco and economist Nouriel Roubini.
