Looks like the fight to raise taxes on rich people has found its latest ally -- and this one isn’t afraid to use a four letter word or two.
Author Stephen King has thrown his hat into the ring over the debate on taxes, arguing that rich people like himself should pay more in an op-ed for Newsweek/Daily Beast published Monday. King, the author of countless novels, most recently The Wind Through The Keyhole, is just the latest super-rich person to come forward in favor of higher taxes on the wealthy.
To those who say they’re “tired of hearing about” taxes, King writes “tough sh*t for you guys, because I’m not tired of talking about it.” He also argues that asking the middle class to assume a disproportionate amount of the tax burden is “un-f*cking-American.”
With the op-ed King is entering an already crowded field of super-rich Americans advocating for higher taxes on their kind. Warren Buffett famously wrote an op-ed in The New York Times in August arguing that the rich should pay taxes at the same or a higher rate than that of middle-class Americans.
Buffett has been so outspoken about tax reform that President Obama named an ultimately failed provision to raise tax rates on millionaires after him.
Billionaire and Microsoft chairman Bill Gates has expressed support for a so-called "Robin Hood" tax, which would put fees on the trading of bonds and shares. He's also said that he's generally in favor of the rich paying more in taxes.
Meanwhile, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, as well as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg have said they think the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy should be allowed to expire. It’s estimated that the cost of such tax cuts is roughly equivalent to the Social Security shortfall over the next 75 years, according to the Center for Budget and Priorities.
But less-famous wealthy Americans have also called for the government to raise taxes on them. Last year, a group of super-rich Americans calling themselves the “Patriotic Millionaires” sent a letter with around 200 signatures to Congress asking for higher taxes on millionaires.