“THEY’RE RICH AND THEY’RE MAD ABOUT TAXES (TOO LOW!)”
— The New York Times
ABOUT THE BOOK
The vast majority of Americans—71 percent—believe the economy is rigged in favor of the rich. Guess what? They’re right.
How do you rig an economy? You start with the tax code. In Tax the Rich!, former BlackRock executive Morris Pearl, the millionaire chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, and Erica Payne, the organization’s founder, take readers on an engaging and enlightening insider’s tour of the nation’s tax code, explaining exactly how “the rich”—and the politicians they control—manipulate the U.S. tax code to ensure the rich get richer, and everyone else is left holding the bag.
Blunt and irreverent, Tax the Rich! unapologetically dismantles the “intellectual” justifications for a tax code that virtually guarantees destabilizing levels of inequality and consequent social unrest. Infographics, charts, cartoons, and lively characters including “the Werkhardts” and “the Slumps” make a complicated subject accessible (and, yes, sometimes even funny) and illuminate the practical reforms that can put America on the road to stability and shared prosperity before it’s too late. Never have the arguments in this book been more timely—or more important.
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REVIEWS
“Tax the Rich! reveals the inner workings of a system designed to make rich people richer and everyone else poorer. It breaks down how the economy has been deliberately structured, in large part through the tax code, to funnel the vast majority of economic growth into the pockets of millionaires and billionaires, working people be damned. This book gives a rare insider’s view of how the system is rigged, and offers a blueprint on how to fix it, starting with an engaged and united electorate holding politicians accountable for taxing the rich.”
— Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor and author of Saving Capitalism
“Tax the Rich! should be on the bookshelves of every single working person in America. In this book, Morris and Erica skillfully reveal in plain English just how rigged our economy and tax code really are. This approachable look at the worst excesses of a tax code designed for the rich and by the rich makes it clear: working people are getting screwed by the status quo. If we want to live in the kind of country where everyone, no matter what their background, has a chance at the American dream, the only way to get there is by taxing the rich.”
— Dr. Abigail Disney, philanthropist & filmmaker
“This is a must-read book for anyone interested in tax justice and how to make the economy fairer. The U.S. tax system, which used to be one of the most progressive in the world, now lavishes rewards on some of the wealthiest people in the country. But as Morris Pearl, Erica Payne, and the Patriotic Millionaires argue, it is not too late to change course.”
— Dr. Gabriel Zucman, economist and co-author of The Triumph of Injustice
“A well-reasoned argument that, given the arrival of a like-minded administration, may soon prove to have legs.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“This is the best tax book I have ever read. It reaches a level of candor I have never seen before.”
— Ralph Nader, political activist, lawyer and author of Unstoppable
“An illuminating insider’s view of how the wealthy exploit the U.S. tax code.”
— Publishers Weekly
“The Patriotic Millionaires know how the rich have rigged the tax system. They tell the story in an engaging and compelling prose for the benefit of all of us. A must read.”
— Emmanuel Saez, economist and co-author of The Triumph of Injustice
“Wonderfully readable”
— Andrew Tobias, financial writer and author of The Only Investment Guide You’ll Ever Need
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MORRIS PEARL
Morris Pearl currently serves as Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, a group of hundreds of high-net-worth Americans who are committed to making all Americans, including themselves, better off by building a more prosperous, stable, and inclusive nation. The group focuses on promoting public policy solutions that encourage political equality, guarantee a sustaining wage for working Americans, and ensure that millionaires, billionaires, and corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
Previously, Mr. 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’ 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’s capital markets to consumers in need of credit. He is a CFA 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. Mr. Pearl lives in New York City with his wife Barbara where he enjoys spending time with his two adult sons and riding his bicycle around the city.
ERICA PAYNE
Erica Payne is the President and founder of the Patriotic Millionaires and the founder of the Agenda Project.
A fearless advocate for economic justice, Erica has appeared on dozens of media outlets from NBC to Fox News. She is the author of The Practical Progressive: How to Build a 21st Century Political Movement which Jonathan Alter of Newsweek called “a blueprint for a progressive conspiracy to help save the country.” She is the co-editor with Dr. Rob Johnson of ‘Make Markets Be Markets,’ a post-crisis analysis of financial regulation and the U.S. banking system.
A political messaging expert, Payne is the creator of some of the most powerful issue campaigns of the last decade. Her creative portfolio includes Granny Off the Cliff, which has been compared to LBJ’s famous “Daisy and the Mushroom Cloud” ad; Romney Girl which created an international incident with the Swiss government; and Republican Cuts Kill—a series of ads which blame GOP budget cuts for everything from Ebola to the lead poisoning crisis in Flint, MI.
Previously, Payne led a boutique consulting firm focused on developing the progressive intellectual and communications infrastructure and was instrumental in the founding of the Democracy Alliance.
She holds an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (2000) and a BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1991).
