Tag: Michael Steinhardt

In response to the polarized political battle stalemating U.S. budget negotiations in the Tea Party era, a group of several dozen of the very wealthiest Americans wrote to ask Congress and President Obama to raise their taxes. Millionaire Republican Senator Orrin Hatch wrote back, dismissing their view of government finances and reminding them that they are free to donate as much money as they want to the government.

As Tax Day looms, several recent reports serve as reminders that the wealthiest Americans give up far less of their income in taxes than the rest of the country.

It's tax time 2011, which means it's the second anniversary of the Tea Party. It's also nearly a week after the first great Washington budget battle of the Tea Party-era in what's sure to be a series of similar battles pitting the Republican-controlled House against the Democratic-controlled Senate and President Obama. Indeed, as many of its critics have noted, the controversial GOP budget plan written by Wisconsin Tea Party-Rep. Paul Ryan for the next fiscal year would turbo-charge the trend in U.S. politics of attacking the poor, ignoring the middle class and rewarding the rich. Against that backdrop, Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength, a group of dozens of extremely wealthy Americans, is backing the Democrats and calling on lawmakers to end the Republican tax-cuts-for-millionaires experiment in federal government "fiscal discipline."