Fairness': Labor Sec Says 'Millionaires & Billionaires' Have an 'Obligation' To Pay More Taxes

Speaking at Al Sharpton's annual convention of the National Action Network in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told her audience that “millionaires and billionaires” have “an obligation” to pay more in taxes.

(Related: Solis decorates Labor Dept. with activist images, including marching with Al Sharpton)

“It’s about fairness,” Secretary Solis said while explaining President Obama’s re-election platform.“It’s about fairness in the workplace; it’s about fairness in education; and it’s about fairness in terms of what services are provided by government. And if we can’t have say-so in that, then this isn’t the dream that all of us have aspired to be a part of.”

“If people aren’t paying their taxes, those that can afford it, the billionaires and millionaires -- even the folks as you’ve heard yesterday that were in the White House that agreed to pay more. They want to pay more because they know it’s their obligation!” she added:

Solis spoke of her own experiences growing up as a first generation American and said that her parents were “seeking the American dream for their children.” She touted Labor Department programs that help veterans, minority women, and the long-term unemployed while criticizing Republicans for wanting to reduce the safety net.

She also spoke about President Obama's policies, saying that they’re intended to help everyone.

“And I know how our economy can come back and I realize that all of us have our own way of making a difference in this country. And I know that the president believes that,” she said.

“That’s why he’s putting forward an agenda that says he wants to see an America, an America that helps every single one of us. Not those that are privileged, not those that can afford fancy lawyers and lobbyists but people, everyday people.”

“An America, as he says it, that is built to last for every single one of us and our children and our grandchildren,” she added.

The Labor Secretary continued:

President Obama has said that in the face of our challenges we’re going to have to answer a central question as a country: can we succeed as a country where a shrinking number of people do increasingly well while a growing number struggle to get by?

Or are we better off when everyone gets a fair shot and everyone does their fair share and everyone plays by the same rules?

That is what is at the heart of this national debate that the president has brought us into --and the other side of the aisle -- because this is where we know we have to go. We have to have this discussion.

[...]

So I want to ask you if you’re going to help us march again. I want to ask you if you’re going to help us organize and I want to make sure that we’re accountable and that we are out there and that we not just fire ourselves up, you know, get excited, but I mean that we give it all that we got.

"We're better off when everyone gets a fair shot," she said.

(H/T: Town Hall)