Bernie Marcus, co-founder of The Home Depot, and John Catsimatidis, owner of Red Apple Group, say the businesses they have created have helped Americans by providing jobs, growth, goods, and services.
The two men made their comments in a column posted Tuesday night by The Wall Street Journal.
"The two of us are quite rich," they wrote. "We have earned more money than we could have imagined and more than we can spend on ourselves, our children, and grandchildren. These days getting rich off a profitable business is regarded as almost sinister. But we have nothing to apologize for, and we don't think the government should have more of our profits.
"We believe in a well-funded government, and we understand it is our duty to pay our fair share of taxes. And we do. Some of our financially successful colleagues call themselves 'patriotic millionaires' and wish to pay more taxes to the government."
The two men said they oppose higher taxes on "the rich."
They maintained, "the evidence is clear that higher tax rates would hurt the global competitiveness of the American economy, and thus hurt all Americans." And they say they can spend their money more wisely than politicians can.
They pointed out their businesses have employed hundreds of thousands of Americans, while paying tens of billions of dollars in wages.
And they noted: "We wish Washington would focus on advancing policies that will allow millions of others to experience the American Dream – as we have."