A mobile billboard demanding higher taxes for the ultra-rich displays a picture of billionaire Jeff Bezos near the U.S. Capitol on May 17, 2021 in Washington, DC.
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Millionaires who urged the rich to pay more taxes started on Monday, Tax Day, protests in New York and Washington – including in front of the homes of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.
The effort is organized by the Patriotic Millionaires, whose members have an annual income of over $ 1 million or net worth over $ 5 million. The details of the effort were first shared with CNBC.
The group plans to launch its Tax Day campaign on Monday. These include mobile billboards that stop in front of Bezos’ homes in New York and Washington. Patriotic Millionaires leaders told CNBC they are organizing a group of up to 30 protesters to walk to Bezos’ New York residence with a billboard reading “Cut the bull —-. Tax the rich”.
Members of the Patriotic Millionaires hold a protest outside the home of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos on May 17, 2021 in New York City on tax return day to demand that he pay his fair share of taxes.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
The move to blow up Bezos in front of his home comes as President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers attempt to levy taxes on businesses and corporations making over $ 400,000 to support their $ 2 trillion infrastructure proposal -Dollars to pay.
Biden recently announced that he would like corporate tax to increase by 25% to 28% while proposing to raise the highest income tax rate from 37% to 39.6%. Republicans have said they don’t want to levy taxes to pay for the infrastructure. The two parties are trying to work out a bipartisan bill and have said they are making progress.
But progressives desperately want billionaires to pay more.
“Jeff Bezos is the figurehead for the utter idiocy of the country’s tax laws,” Group founder and president Erica Payne told CNBC on Friday. She said Bezos’ extreme wealth meant he should pay more taxes. She noted that the tech tycoon is reportedly in the process of building a nearly 400-meter-long yacht that is likely to cost over $ 500 million.
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon
Elif Ozturk | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Bezos, who has a net worth of over $ 185 billion, according to Forbes, has been a target by progressives for the need to levy taxes on the rich.
An Amazon spokesman hasn’t returned a request for comment, but Bezos has said he supports the corporate tax increase.
The New York Post reported in 2019 that Bezos spent $ 80 million on three apartments in the same New York building to create a mega home. A year later, the Post reported that Bezos had bought a $ 16 million home within the same apartment complex.
The Patriotic Millionaires are advocating Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s Ultra Millionaire Tax Plan, the one 2% annual tax on assets over $ 50 million, 3% on assets over $ 1 billion.
Morris Pearl, the group’s chairman and former BlackRock executive, told CNBC that the organization will push for a wealth tax, among other things, throughout the tax day. Other members of the Patriotic Millionaires Advisory Board include Abigail and Tim Disney, two children of longtime Disney CEO Roy Disney.
The mobile billboards will also be displayed in front of the residence of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in Washington, the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in New York City, as well as in DC locations including the Chamber of Commerce, Business Roundtable, Heritage Foundation and the Democratic National, Committee, Americans for Tax Reform, IRS and the Old Post Office Hotel of former President Donald Trump appear.
Bezos’ $ 23 million DC mansion was once the old textile museum.
The other billboard featured in the one-day campaign features the smiling faces of Bezos, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk. One of the billboards reads, “Control the rich. Save America. Yes, it really is that simple.” Another makes the three business leaders laugh and reads “Tax me if you can”.
