This month, an open letter was published before the World Economic Forum’s ‘online Davos’ on the In Tax We Trust website. It addressed the ultra-rich people blamed for being part of the problem, and 102 humanitarian billionaires and millionaires signed it. The letter makes it obvious the billionaire space travelers who benefited astronomically from the pandemic, pay almost no tax, and don’t pay workers enough are part of the problem.
Trust is built through accountability, through well-oiled, fair, and open democracies that provide good services and support all their citizens. In Tax We Trust
Imagine a world where all the richest people worked to enable equality and equity. According to the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Report 2021, there were 56.1 million millionaires in the world in 2021. And in 2020, while frontline health workers (70% women) battled the pandemic, 5.2 million new millionaires emerged. As for billionaires, eight new ones appeared every week, reported Business Standard.
“The comfort of the rich depends upon an abundant supply of the poor.”- Voltaire
It’s not a surprise that Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are not part of the group of 102 millionaires and billionaires who want to pay their fair share of tax. Can you believe it? It’s not breaking news.
Both Gates and his wife want a tax system where people with more money pay more tax, including themselves. Although Bill Gates has paid over $10 billion more than other ultra-wealthy people in his lifetime, he said it wasn’t enough. In a 2018 interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, Gates stated:
“I need to pay higher taxes.”
Other uber-rich people who want to pay their fair share include Mark Cuban, Warren Buffet, and hedge fund manager Ray Dalio.
In an interview on 60 Minutes in 2019, Dalio said that he thinks the American dream is lost and referred to the wealth gap as a “national emergency.” He also believes capitalism is unsustainable, and we are at a point where we can work together to make it work better, or there will be a conflict between the rich and the poor.
“Capitalism needs to be reformed. It doesn’t need to be abandoned.” Ray Dalio
The BBC reported in an interview on January 17th, 2022, with Oxfam’s UK CEO, Danny Sriskandarajah, that the world’s top 10 wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during 2020 and 2021.
The first letter by Millionaires For Humanity was published in 2020 and signed by 112 millionaires worldwide.
Today, we, the undersigned millionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.Millionaires For Humanity
Nearly 22 million people in the US meet the $1 million figure, and 110,850 US individuals have net assets over $50 million. The world and the US will need millions more extremely wealthy people to work together to restore trust and introduce a fair tax system.
The Patriotic Millionaires state, on the website Tax the Rich, some interesting tax facts, one for example:
- If you paid a penny in federal taxes last year, you paid more to run the country than FedEx, Nike, HP, and 52 other multinational corporations because of the tax code.
The Patriotic Millionaires believe the three choices of who should pay for critical investments in our future for Congress to choose from are:
- Millionaires, billionaires, & corporations will pay for it.
- You will pay for it.
- It won’t get done.
Any millionaires or billionaires reading this are invited to JOIN THE PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES’ FIGHT here.
What do you think will happen?