The purpose of this petition is to give President Obama a mandate from the people to raise taxes on billionaires who meet any or all of the following criteria:
* Paid only or mostly capital gains taxes all or most their adult lives
* Hid their true income in shell accounts overseas
* Shipped high-paying American jobs overseas
* Eliminated pensions, retirement accounts and benefits
* Refused to restructure underwater mortgages
* Took multimillion-dollar bonuses as a result of the 2008 meltdown
These criteria are not exhaustive, but they target some of the most egregious aspects of our financial culture, which until now have been free to concentrate the vast majority of our resources into the hands of the privileged—not necessarily the hardest workers.