In a massive show of unity and solidarity, a group of millionaires from across the world have urged the governments to raise taxes on them to aid the global efforts towards a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.
The group is called ‘Millionaires for Humanity’ and includes Disney heiress Abigail Disney, Ben & Jerry’s co-founder Jerry Greenfield, British movie director Richard Curtis, and entrepreneur Sidney Topol, among many others. According to the website, Millionaires For Humanity is a project by Bridging Ventures, Club of Rome, Human Act, Oxfam International, Patriotic Millionaires, and Tax Justice UK.
The letter opens with a message for citizens across the world and states,
“As Covid-19 strikes the world, millionaires like us have a critical role to play in healing our world. No, we are not the ones caring for the sick in intensive care wards. We are not driving the ambulances that will bring the ill to hospitals. We are not restocking grocery store shelves or delivering food door to door. But we do have money, lots of it. Money that is desperately needed now and will continue to be needed in the years ahead, as our world recovers from this crisis.
Today, we, the undersigned millionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently.”
The letter goes on to state that the impact of the coronavirus crisis would last for decades, and destroy the economy by pushing people into poverty and children out of school. It also emphasizes that these issues cannot be solved by charity alone and that the government must take the ownership of raising the money that is needed to overcome these problems.
“Unlike tens of millions of people around the world, we do not have to worry about losing our jobs, our homes, or our ability to support our families. We are not fighting on the frontlines of this emergency and we are much less likely to be its victims.
So please. Tax us. Tax us. Tax us. It is the right choice. It is the only choice.
Humanity is more important than our money.”
While most of the millionaires that have signed the letter are from the United States, the ultra-rich from Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Canada, and the UK also feature in the list.
Here is a list of the millionaires that have signed the letter:
- Frank Arthur (US)
- Richard Boberg (US)
- Dr. Mariana Bozesan (Germany)
- Bob Burnett (US)
- Ronald Carter (US)
- Barbara Clayton (Canada)
- Xandra Coe (US)
- James Colen (US)
- Cynda Collins Arsenault (US)
- Richard Curtis (UK)
- Barb Dank (US)
- Alan S. Davis (US)
- Pierce Delahunt (US)
- Abigail Disney (US)
- Tim Disney (US)
- John Driscoll (US)
- Karen Edwards (US)
- Stephen R. English (US)
- Andrew M. Faulk, M.D. (US)
- Rick Feldman (US)
- Thomas Ferguson (UK)
- Mary Ford (US)
- Patricia G. Foschi (US)
- Blaine Garst (US)
- Molly Gochman (US)
- Jerry Greenfield (US)
- Karen Grove (US)
- Ron Guillot (US)
- Catherine Gund (US)
- Christina Hansen (Germany)
- James Harford (US)
- John Michael Hemmer (US)
- Graham Hobson (UK)
- Wei-Hwa Huang (US)
- Diane Isenberg (US)
- Ross Jackson (Denmark)
- William H. Janeway (US)
- Frank H. Jernigan (US)
- Kristina Johansson (UK)
- Richard (Ted) LaRoche (US)
- David Lee (US)
- Babs Lima II (US)
- Kristin Luck (US)
- Amy Mandel (US)
- Ané Maro (Denmark)
- Patricia Martone (US)
- Thomas McDougal (US)
- Gemma McGough (UK)
- Marie T. McKellar (US)
- Judy L. Meath (US)
- Terence Meehan (US)
- Frans Meijer (Netherlands)
- Barbara Simons (US)
- Diane Meyer Simon (US)
- Peter Torr Smith (NZ)
- John O’Farrell (US)
- Gary Passon (US)
- Morris Pearl (US)
- Geoff Phillips (UK)
- Judy Pigott (US)
- Stephen Prince (US)
- Liesel Pritzker Simmons (US)
- Sophie Robinson Saltonstall (US)
- Michael Rothman (US)
- Bonnie Rothman (US)
- Guy Saperstein (US)
- Cédric Schmidtke (Germany)
- Eric Schoenberg (US)
- Robert Schram (Netherlands)
- Antonis Schwarz (Germany)
- Stephen Segal (US)
- Djaffar Shalchi (Denmark)
- Charlie Simmons (US)
- Ian Simmons (US)
- Gary Stevenson (UK)
- Karen Stewart, PhD (US)
- Julia Stone (US)
- Sandor Straus (US)
- Arthur Strauss, MD (US)
- Ralph Suikat (Germany)
- Alexandra Theriault, MD (US)
- Sir. Stephen Tindall (New Zealand)
- Sidney Topol (US)
- Claire Trottier (Canada)
- Sylvie Trottier (Canada)
- Dale Walker (US)
- Scott Wallace (US)
- Diana Wege (US)
- Terry Winograd (US)
- Carol Winograd (US)
- Bennet Yee (US)
- Amy Ziering (US)
To read the entire letter and its contents, click here.
Kudos to the millionaires in this list that advocate for more taxes to help the world become a better and safer place!
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