Tax-Us '5 percenters' group holds S.F. rally

Carolyn Said
Wednesday, April 18, 2012



They're rich. They're angry. And they want to pony up more money to Uncle Sam.

Armed with placards reading "Please Raise Our Taxes" and colorful budget charts, about 75 well-dressed middle-aged folks assembled on the steps of San Francisco City Hall at noon on Tuesday - tax day.

"Like millions of Americans, today was not fun - it was more like a root canal," said real estate developer John Stewart, addressing Tax-Us ( www.tax-us.info), the "affluent minority" group he founded that was launching with the City Hall rally. "But I was the beneficiary of Bush-era tax cuts that put more bucks in my pocket."

Bush-era tax cuts

Those cuts for wealthy people caused today's deficit, he said. That's why his group, which self-identifies as "5 percenters, not 1 percenters," seeks tax increases for themselves and other top earners.

"It's a simple idea of shared sacrifice," said equity fund manager Barney Deasy, president of Merritt Capital. "Tax all of us and do it now."



Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/04/17/BU551O4NV8.DTL