For the wealthy, less in taxes is not always more

For the wealthy, less in taxes is not always more

By Dana Milbank

You thought only conservatives got mad about taxes?

Tea partiers, eat your hearts out: A group of liberals got together Tuesday and proved that they, too, can have a tax rebellion. But theirs is a little bit different: They want to pay more taxes.

"I'm in favor of higher taxes on people like me," declared Eric Schoenberg, who is sitting on an investment banking fortune. He complained about "my absurdly low tax rates."

"We're calling on other wealthy taxpayers to join us," said paper-mill heir Mike Lapham, "to send the message to Congress and President Obama that it's time to roll back the tax cuts on upper-income taxpayers."

"I would with pleasure sacrifice the income," agreed millionaire entrepreneur Jeffrey Hollender.

The rich are different.

In another era, the millionaires on Tuesday's conference call might have been called "limousine liberals." But that label no longer applies. Now any wealthy liberal worth his certified-organic sea salt is driving a Prius.
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For them, Obama's plan to "spread the wealth" (by raising taxes on families earning more than $250,000) is too conservative. "The Obama plan we don't think goes far enough," Lapham protested. "We think probably more like the top 5 percent should have their taxes raised." That would be those above $200,000. "Or go beyond that," he suggested.

With April 15 a week away, many Americans are feeling right about now that they are paying entirely too much. But the millionaires say they see the beginning of a grass-roots movement of the angry under-taxed wealthy.

"The bottom line is the public is on our side," said Brian Miller, executive director of United for a Fair Economy, which is organizing the anti-anti-tax rebellion. As evidence, he pointed to a Quinnipiac University poll from March that found 60 percent of Americans favored raising taxes on those earning more than $250,000. This is not surprising: Americans generally favor raising taxes on the rich, as long as they are not defined as rich themselves.

But Miller also pointed to a surprising finding in the poll: Among families earning more than $250,000, fully 64 percent favor raising taxes on themselves. This part was surprising -- but possibly suspect. Only 65 of the 1,907 people polled were in that income group, too small a sample for solid conclusions.

Still, the millionaires on the call get credit for putting (some of) their money where their mouths are. They are among 50 families with net assets of more than $1 million to take a "tax fairness" pledge -- donating the amount they saved from Bush tax cuts to organizations fighting for the repeal of the Bush tax cuts. According to a study by Spectrem Group, 7.8 million households in the United States have assets of more than $1 million -- so that leaves 7,799,950 millionaire households yet to take the pledge.

Even so, the pro-tax protesters will probably get their wish. The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year, and the odds are high that Congress will not renew them for those earning more than $250,000. That means the tax fairness pledge is probably unnecessary -- although it's a handy fundraising tool for advocacy groups. "We need many more folks, especially rich folks like us . . . to join the cause," urged Marnie Thompson, a relative pauper in the group because her family income is $160,000 to $240,000 a year.

Of course, if millionaires really want to pay higher taxes, there's nothing stopping them. The Treasury Department Web site even accepts contributions by credit card to pay the public debt.

There's also nothing to stop the millionaires from paying the tax obligations of, say, Washington Post columnists.

But then they wouldn't have the satisfaction of giving their tax-cut proceeds to the pro-tax movement.

"Over the past four years," Schoenberg said, "I donated over $200,000 that I had received in tax cuts." And he thinks it's time for "my fellow wealthy Americans to join me." His $200,000, after all, won't do much to ease a federal debt of $12,000,000,000,000.
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His donation will, however, ease the sense of guilt that comes with great wealth, described poignantly by the millionaires:

"In 1865, my great-great-grandfather Samuel Pruyn founded a paper mill on the banks of the Hudson River in Glens Falls, New York," Lapham explained.

Judy Pigott, an industrial heiress on the call, added her wish that her income, "mostly unearned income, be taxed at a rate that returns to the common good that I have received by a privilege."

Confessed Hollender, who now runs the Seventh Generation natural products company: "I grew up in Manhattan on Park Avenue in a 10-room apartment."

As tea parties go, this one was decidedly high tea.