[youtube: video=”n-oYtUN2yEE”]
Taxes are sexy.
Yeah, I said it. I know that most times you hear about taxes – from Obama to the latest Tea Party wingnut to your local city council bureaucrat – that conversation is boring, it’s policy-wonkish, and it’s usually pretty conservative. Well, it’s time to change the debate.
Meet the Millionaire Tax Virgin. This is a man who tells it like it is — taxing rich people to pay for public schools and services is necessary; it’s about justice; and yes, it can be quite the aphrodisiac.
This video, written by yours truly and directed by Yvan Iturriaga, is in the spirit of political satire and cultural activism — using inappropriate humor to push for actually appropriate policies. From Jon Stewart to Sarah Silverman, sometimes a good joke can go a lot farther than memos and talking points. The Millionaire Tax Virgin is only the latest in a long line of sex-starved, progressive comedians.
This is also very serious. Here in California, we’re in the last few weeks of the campaign for Proposition 30. Prop 30 would raise taxes on California’s super-wealthy, and use those billions of dollars for our underfunded public schools, universities, hospitals, parks, and everything else that we need and love and is crumbling before our eyes — all while the 1% buy second mansions and third yachts and pay less taxes than Mitt Romney’s pet rock.
After three decades of regressive economic policy and skyrocketing inequality, Prop 30 is not perfect, it’s not enough…but it is a big step in the right direction. Let’s make that step real, California.
Let’s pass Prop 30 — and help the Millionaire Tax Virgin finally get some of the action he so desperately needs.