Via Sightline Institute:
I filed my taxes a long time ago (just one of the many benefits of being married to someone far, far more organized than I am). So, I haven’t been thinking about my own taxes much this week—except to hope for a refund and follow President Obama’s road-show about his budget (He did Jay Leno, 60 Minutes, two nationally-televised town hall meetings, and a prime-time news conference—but I caught most of it via Jon Stewart).
But the best thing I’ve seen about taxes all week is a bunch of millionaires telling it like it is, saying that paying taxes is patriotic.
More precisely, 45 American millionaires wrote a letter to President Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and House Speaker John Boehner, urging them to let the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans expire.
“Our country has been good to us,” they proudly declare. “Now, we want to do our part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed as we have.” Music to my ears–that’s the way we should all understand taxes–as contributions to shared prosperity and quality of life, as our way of ensuring everyone has opportunities to succeed the way the richest among us have.”
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