The Patriotic Millionaires, an advocacy group of well-heeled taxpayers who say they want to pay more in taxes, is suddenly taken with Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The group cited Boehner’s apparent willingness to allow tax rates to go up for millionaires as long as President Obama agrees to sharp cuts in entitlement spending (see Boehner Offers Obama Tax Rate Increase Deal for Entitlement Cuts).

The group noted that Boehner’s about-face came just a few weeks after the Patriotic Millionaires held a private call with his senior advisor for policy, in which they urged Boehner to lead on this issue. On that call, the Patriotic Millionaires told Boehner’s advisor that raising taxes on millionaires would help the country pay for the things it needs and reduce the fiscal drag that is holding the economy back. They emphasized during the call that raising taxes would not affect their hiring or investment decisions in the least. 

“You must be a pretty bad investor if you are making your decision based on a tax rate,” said one member of the group identified only as a top technology investor. “When I invest, I want to make a lot more than a few percentage points.”   

The group is pleased that after two years of media outreach, countless meetings with lawmakers, multiple “myth-busting” papers and briefs, and countless private conversations with other millionaires, it may just get what its members have been working for—the requirement to pay more taxes—or as they put it, “a tax policy that will allow our great country to thrive.”