Author and activist Judy Pigott hosted 70 guests at her North Admiral house Tuesday, May 4, to discuss the need for the wealthy to give their fair share of taxes and lessen the buden of the poor and middle class. She was joined by William Gates, Sr., an outspoken estate tax advocate. Gates co-authored "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes" with Chuck Collins, an heir to the fortune of 19th-century meatpacking mogul Oscar Mayer, and co-founder of "Wealth for the Common Good."

Guests were members of the non-profit advocacy group, "The Responsible Wealth Project" with the "United for Fair Economy" which grew out of "Share the Wealth."

"Tonight we are gathering people to share information about a proposal to roll back the Bush tax cuts on the rich and to let the estate taxes resume," said Pigott, a Paccar family member who authored the book "Personal Safety Nets" with a personal endordement from Gates, Sr.

"We look at taxes as an effective and ethical way of supporting all of us while recognizing we are all part of a community and nobody got here by him or herself no matter how hard he or she worked," said Pigott.

"I know it's wrong for the person checking groceries at Safeway and Met Market to pay more taxes than we're paying," she said. "Dividends and capital gains are taxed at a lower rate and that is where some of my income comes from. I am paying a lower rate over a greater amount of money and that’s ineffective and unethical."

"Tonight I'm going to talk about the state income tax," said Gates. "In this state the wealthiest people are paying too damn little. The richest people are paying about 3-percent of their income. And the bottom 20-percent pay 16 or 17-percent, five times as much. It stinks."

Michael Lapham was an organizer of the event and attended. He is director of the "Responsible Wealth Project" at "United for a Fair Economy" in Boston. Responsible Wealth is a network of 700 business leaders, investors and other wealthy individuals in the top 5% of income and/or wealth in the US. He pushes for fair taxation (including preserving the estate tax) and corporate accountability. Before co-founding Responsible Wealth, Mike developed low-income housing and AIDS housing,

"The system is tilted in their favor and they believe they don’t need another tax break," said Lapham. "These are wealthy people who believe we should have an estate tax. These folks are doing well and don’t need more advantages. The Bush tax cuts cut taxes on everyone, but about half went to people in the top 5- percent and since 2001, $980 billion ended up going into their pockets.

This has continued into the Obama administration," he added. "He promised to roll back those tax cuts to people making over $250,000 but we think it doesn’t go far enough. We want to make sure the estate tax is continued permanently. In 2010 there is no estate tax, then in 2011 it goes back to the 2001 level. This is a crucial year."

Check out: http://www.faireconomy.org/issues/responsible_wealth