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- Billionaires George Soros, Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes, and heiress Abigail Disney want to pay higher taxes.
- The trio joined more than a dozen other ultra-rich Americans in signing a letter addressed to all 2020 presidential candidates that was published on Monday.
- The group are calling for a tax on the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans that could help to combat climate change, boost the US economy, improve people’s health, promote fairness, and reduce inequality.
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George Soros, Facebook cofounder Chris Hughes, and heiress Abigail Disney are among more than a dozen billionaires who want to pay higher taxes.
The ultra-rich Americans signed a letter addressed to all 2020 presidential candidates that was published on Monday. The letter proposes a tax on the wealthiest 0.1% of Americans that could help to combat climate change, boost the US economy, improve people’s health, promote fairness, and reduce inequality.
"We are writing to call on all candidates for President, whether they are Republicans or Democrats, to
support a moderate wealth tax on the fortunes of the richest 1/10 of the richest 1% of Americans—on
us," the letter reads. "The next dollar of new tax revenue should come from the most financially fortunate, not from middle-income and lower-income Americans."
A total of 19 people including Molly Munger — the daughter of Warren Buffett’s longtime partner, Charles Munger — and Hyatt heiresses Regan Pritzker and Liesel Pritzker Simmons signed on. The letter highlights Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax, which targets around 75,000 households with $50 million or more in assets and promises to raise nearly $3 trillion over 10 years.
"This revenue could substantially fund the cost of smart investments in our future, like clean energy
innovation to mitigate climate change, universal child care, student loan debt relief, infrastructure
modernization, tax credits for low-income families, public health solutions, and other vital needs," the letter reads.
The multi-millionaires and billionaires justify a wealth tax in several ways. They say it could:
- Finance innovation in green energy, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and solving climate change.
- Fund investment in infrastructure, childcare, and education, relieve student debt, and create jobs, boosting the economy.
- Raise money to tackle public-health challenges such as cardiovascular disease and opioid addiction.
- Narrow the gap in effective tax rates between the ultra-rich and the poor, potentially improving social mobility.
- Strengthen American democracy by reducing economic inequality.
- Push wealthy families to do their "patriotic duty" and contribute to America’s success.
Other signatures on the letter include those of Justin Rosenstein, cofounder of workflow-software giant Asana, and Nick Hanauer, an early Amazon.com investor who sold his marketing firm to Microsoft for about $6 billion in 2007.
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Source: Business Insider – tmohamed@businessinsider.com (Theron Mohamed)