A mobile billboard will drive around DC Wednesday. The message: “Tax the Rich. Save America. Yes, it really is that simple.” Among the locations where it will be seen: Business Roundtable’s headquarters, the White House, the Treasury Department, and the Kalorama home of the world’s richest person.
The DC pied-a-terre of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos certainly helps make something of a case for increasing taxes on America’s wealthy: As Mimi Montgomery reported in 2018, blueprints for his renovation of the former Textile Museum called for 25 bathrooms, three kitchens, a whiskey cellar and a wine room, more than a thousand light fixtures, and two elevators. (Perhaps that wasn’t enough room, since Bezos bought another mansion across the street last January.)
The billboard—which features photos of Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, and Elon Musk—is the work of a group called Patriotic Millionaires, whose members include several DC-area big wheels, including Keith Mestrich, Christy Wallace and Scott Wallace, and William Pugh. It will start its rounds outside Business Roundtable around 4 PM and will finish its ambit near the Capitol at 9, as President Biden addresses a joint session of Congress.
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
