Millionaires plead for higher taxes to help pay for Covid aid

Walt Disney Co heiress Abigail Disney is among the dozens of wealthy individuals who are calling on their governments to raise taxes on the rich.

DOZENS of millionaires from the U.S. and six other countries have a message for their governments: "Tax us. Tax us. Tax us.”

Calling themselves the Millionaires for Humanity, more than 80 wealthy individuals -- including Walt Disney Co. heiress Abigail Disney; former BlackRock Inc. managing director Morris Pearl; and Danish-Iranian entrepreneur Djaffar Shalchi -- are petitioning for higher taxes on the rich to help pay for the billions in new government programs made necessary by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Today, we, the undersigned millionaires and billionaires, ask our governments to raise taxes on people like us. Immediately. Substantially. Permanently,” according to the open letter.

"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.”

Their missive, which comes ahead of this weekend’s G20 meeting, isn’t the first such appeal. Even before the pandemic upended public finances, a cohort of 200 or so wealthy people calling themselves the Patriotic Millionaires -- a group that include Disney and Pearl -- were pressing for a more progressive tax system. - Bloomberg