Responsible Wealth

Some Of The Rich Ask For Higher Taxes

--- by Yuki Noguchi, USA Today Correspondent

.  .  .  It might seem strange and novel that some rich liberals like Thompson and Hollender would campaign against their own financial interests on taxes. Naturally, they could give away their money — and they both do some of that.

And they say their embrace of taxes isn't as weird as it might seem. There may be plenty of evidence to suggest otherwise. But these wealthy individuals point to a recent Quinnipiac University poll showing nearly two-thirds of those with household incomes of more than $250,000 a year support raising their own taxes to reduce the federal deficit.

In the past, other superrich people, including Warren Buffett and Bill Gates Sr. — father of the Microsoft founder — have championed their pro-tax stance. They said their wealth should be taxed heavily to support the public institutions they say allowed them to succeed.

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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125918497