Eric Schoenberg was recently on Fox News to spar with Stuart Varney over the GOP tax plan, and he brought two things Varney didn’t expect: his tax returns, and facts.
When Varney said that the House tax bill would raise taxes on wealthy individuals in many states, Eric laid out the truth behind the GOP tax plan - that it’s a windfall for rich people like him. He explained how cuts to pass-through rates and the elimination of the alternative minimum tax would give him, and wealthy people all over the United States, a huge (and unnecessary) tax cut. And what does the middle class get? For many of them, a tax increase.
Eric called out estate tax repeal for what it is - a giveaway to millionaires and billionaires. No one pays even one cent in estate tax unless their estate is over $5.5 million as an individual or $11 million for a couple. That’s a lot of money. Anyone inheriting that much money can afford to pay their fair share, and they should be expected to. Trust fund babies are just about the last people in this country who need tax relief.
Eric isn’t alone in his belief that this bill’s tax cuts for the rich are outrageous. He’s a member of a group I chair called the Patriotic Millionaires, a collection of hundreds of wealthy individuals all across America united in our concern about the destabilizing concentration of power and money in this country. We know that this tax bill would be very, very good for us, but equally as damaging for the country we love, so we’re fighting back.
We’re not opposed to this bill because we don’t want to make more money (we’re millionaires, we love making money). We’re opposed to the GOP tax bill because it would make this country a worse place for everyone, including us, to live. I’d want to trade my tax cut for a healthier, better educated, and more prosperous country, and the rest of the Patriotic Millionaires would do the same.