{"id":2582,"date":"2021-11-10T06:26:52","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T06:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2021-11-22T07:07:56","modified_gmt":"2021-11-22T07:07:56","slug":"patriotic-millionaires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/","title":{"rendered":"Patriotic Millionaires:"},"content":{"rendered":"

Patriotic Millionaires:
\n<\/b>Can Taxing the Rich Save America?<\/b><\/span><\/h4>\n
\n

Recently, members of Peyk<\/i>\u2019s editorial board were invited, along with other members of the Iranian American community, to a presentation by the Patriotic Millionaires entitled: Tax the Rich! Save America<\/i>. Patriotic Millionaires is a self-described non-partisan advocacy group made up of high net worth individuals in the U.S. who promote public policy solutions to encourage political equality and seek to restructure the American tax system so that the wealthy (including themselves) will pay a greater share of the tax burden. The group was founded in 2010 and first came to prominence when they called for the end of the Bush-era tax cuts.<\/p>\n

Morris Pearl, chairman of the board of Patriotic Millionaires, took questions and answers after the presentation, which covered topics found in his 2021 book co-authored with Erica Payne (founder and president of Patriotic Millionaires), entitled Tax the Rich: How Lies, Loopholes, and Lobbyists Make the Rich Even Richer<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The presentation was timely as Congress has been considering President Biden\u2019s \u201cBuild Back Better\u201d agenda, a plan to create jobs, cut taxes, and lower costs for working families\u2014all paid for by making the tax code fairer and making the wealthiest Americans and large corporations pay their fair share.<\/p>\n

After the meeting, Peyk<\/i> caught up with Mr. Pearl to ask a few questions for the benefit of Peyk<\/i>\u2019s readers. Peyk<\/i> does not specifically endorse Mr. Pearl\u2019s comments; these questions and answers are for informational purposes for our readers. The interview has been edited for space and clarity.<\/p>\n

–Peyk<\/i> Editorial Board<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________<\/p>\n

Peyk<\/i><\/b>: Thank you for taking the time to join us, Mr. Pearl. It was a pleasure hearing you speak at a recent presentation. Will you tell us about what prompted you to write your book, <\/i>Tax the Rich?<\/i><\/p>\n

Morris Pearl (MP)<\/b>: Our nation is experiencing inequality and it is becoming increasingly destabilized.\u00a0We are seeing many of our neighbors succumbing to deaths of despair, becoming addicted to opioids, and just giving up\u2014because they are becoming more and more aware that the economy is rigged and that they cannot make it. The American Dream is no longer alive for them. They have given up hope of living like their parents lived, much less doing better.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to do something about that.\u00a0I want my granddaughter to grow up in a nation filled with people who can work for a living and make enough money to support their families and pay their bills and have some money left over for a few luxuries like premium ice cream.\u00a0Because that is the nation where I grew up and was able to invest and do well.\u00a0Gross inequality does not work well over the long term.\u00a0They tried that in South Africa when I was a teenager.\u00a0It did not end well for the rich people.<\/p>\n

Peyk<\/i><\/b>: Let\u2019s back up to where you say that the American economy is rigged. What do you mean by that?<\/i><\/p>\n

MP<\/b>: I mean that the rules are set so that those people who are rich tend to get richer, and those people who are not tend not to get richer.\u00a0Our political and economic system favors the rich.\u00a0The obvious example (and a main point of our book) is that income derived from capital is taxed at substantially lower rates than income derived from labor.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Another example is that our nation has strict regulations on labor unions, restraining the ability of workers to organize with each other in order to bargain as a unit with an employer who employs many workers, but the capitalists are not constrained by regulation.<\/p>\n

Peyk<\/i><\/b>: You mentioned that investment income is taxed at a lower rate than the income tax associated with labor, which is part of your explanation about why the rich are not being taxed enough. Was it always this way and what led to the laws being changed to favor investment income?<\/i><\/p>\n

MP<\/b>: Tax rates have gone up and down over time, and I do not read people\u2019s minds so I cannot tell you what was going through the minds of the policy makers in the past.\u00a0For the record, the rates for labor and investments had been equal as recently as the late 1980s.\u00a0I ascribe the policies to a few possible causes:<\/p>\n

Elected officials spend huge amounts of time raising money, and therefore spend a lot of time hanging out with and talking to the major donors.\u00a0That means that they become very familiar with whatever it is that frustrates and annoys their donors.\u00a0 And taxes on capital investments are very visible\u2014instead of money being deducted from a paycheck, the investor actually has to take out a check and a pen and write out the check and sign it and mail it in.\u00a0A lot of people don\u2019t like that, so their elected officials have come up with special benefits for being an investor.\u00a0And those special benefits have an enormous compounding effect.\u00a0By not paying taxes on my investment gains every year, I am\u2014every single year\u2014wealthier than I would otherwise have been, and that means that I actually have more investment gains each year than would have otherwise been the case.\u00a0 Lower taxes lead to higher balances, higher balances lead to more income, and more income leads to higher balances the following year\u2014a cycle that works very well for those people who have the good fortune to be wealthy.
\n\"\"
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The other issue is a fiction that a few people have been propagating that the government has to encourage people to invest, because rich people will go on strike unless the government comes up with policies to appease them.\u00a0That does not make any sense.\u00a0Think about it for a moment from the point of view of someone who has millions of dollars of savings.\u00a0The person could take all their money in cash and stick in a safe in their house.\u00a0That would result in no taxes (because they would have no income).\u00a0Or, the person could invest in very conservative investments (government bonds or something similar) or the person could invest in stocks.\u00a0We live in a capitalistic society with a more-or-less free market, so the market rates of different investments go up and down as supply and demand for investments shift.\u00a0However, it makes sense to invest money, whatever the tax rate.\u00a0If the tax rate is 20%, I would rather have some income and pay 20% in taxes and keep the other 80%.\u00a0If the tax rate is 80%, I would rather have some income and pay 80% in taxes and keep the other 20%.\u00a0As long as the tax rate is not 100%, paying the tax is always better than not having any income.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Peyk<\/i><\/b>: What can average Americans do to reverse the decades-long trend of increasing wealth and income inequality?<\/i><\/p>\n

MP<\/b>: Americans can and should call their senators and representatives, and insist that they do something about it.\u00a0If their elected representatives do not agree with them, they should elect different representatives.<\/p>\n

Peyk<\/i><\/b>: Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n

____________________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nPrior to his work with Patriotic Millionaires, Morris Pearl was a managing director at BlackRock, one of the largest investment firms in the world. His work included the Maiden Lane transactions and assessing governments\u2019 potential losses from bank bailouts in the United States and in Europe. Prior to BlackRock, Mr. Pearl had a long tenure on Wall Street where he invented some of the securitization technology connecting America\u2019s capital markets to consumers in need of credit. He is a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) Charter Holder, a member of the CFA Institute, the New York Society of Securities Analysts, and on the board of Verified Voting and The Center for Political Accountability.<\/p>\n

More information can be found at the Patriotic Millionaires website: https:\/\/patrioticmillionaires.org\/<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Patriotic Millionaires: Can Taxing the Rich Save America? Recently, members of Peyk\u2019s editorial board were invited, along with other members of the Iranian American community, to a presentation by the Patriotic Millionaires entitled: Tax the Rich! Save America. Patriotic Millionaires is a self-described non-partisan advocacy group made up of high net worth individuals in the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nPatriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Patriotic Millionaires: Can Taxing the Rich Save America? Recently, members of Peyk\u2019s editorial board were invited, along with other members of the Iranian American community, to a presentation by the Patriotic Millionaires entitled: Tax the Rich! Save America. Patriotic Millionaires is a self-described non-partisan advocacy group made up of high net worth individuals in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Peyk Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"140\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"7 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030\"},\"headline\":\"Patriotic Millionaires:\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\"},\"wordCount\":1306,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Articles\",\"Culture\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\",\"name\":\"Patriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":140},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Patriotic Millionaires:\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Peyk Magazine\",\"description\":\"Persian Cultural Center\u2019s Bilingual Magazine\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/author\/admin_en\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Patriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Patriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine","og_description":"Patriotic Millionaires: Can Taxing the Rich Save America? Recently, members of Peyk\u2019s editorial board were invited, along with other members of the Iranian American community, to a presentation by the Patriotic Millionaires entitled: Tax the Rich! Save America. Patriotic Millionaires is a self-described non-partisan advocacy group made up of high net worth individuals in the","og_url":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/","og_site_name":"Peyk Magazine","article_published_time":"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1080,"height":140,"url":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"7 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030"},"headline":"Patriotic Millionaires:","datePublished":"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/"},"wordCount":1306,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg","articleSection":["Articles","Culture"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/","url":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/","name":"Patriotic Millionaires: - Peyk Magazine","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-10T06:26:52+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-22T07:07:56+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/peyk-196-patriotic-Millonaires-titles.jpg","width":1080,"height":140},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/2021\/11\/10\/patriotic-millionaires\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Patriotic Millionaires:"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/","name":"Peyk Magazine","description":"Persian Cultural Center\u2019s Bilingual Magazine","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/b8758493a366338985bb7c506eb1e030","name":"admin","url":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/author\/admin_en\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2637,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2582\/revisions\/2637"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/peykmagazine.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}