When it comes to easy ways to get press for your cause, invoking Kim Kardashian's name pretty much tops the list.
So it's hardly surprising that she (and, more to the point, her bank account and lifestyle choices), over all the other celebrity millionaires gallivanting around Hollywood, has been targeted by California's Courage Campaign and upheld as the example for why the state's millionaires should be taxed at a higher percentage than the rest of its less marquee-named residents.
The campaign—which further hammers home its point by using the url www.TaxKimK.com—got off to a banner start this week when it released a less-than-flattering video montage of its star target, setting the tone by having the video start with Kim making the following, not exactly of-the-people declaration:
"Being on TV has changed my life, because you get lots of free stuff."
The ad goes on to proclaim that Kim personally made $12 million in 2010, but she paid just 10.3 percent in income taxes, a mere one percentage point more than the 9.3 percent paid by the average California resident—who, incidentally, makes somewhere in the ballpark of $47,000.
"Not everyone was born a Kardashian, but we all need to pay our fair share," the ad states.
The video is part of the campaign proposing a November ballot initiative that would raise taxes on the state's wealthiest citizens by 3 to 5 percent, thus generating an estimated $6 billion that would go toward public schools and other hard-hit local services.
In fairness, of course, Kardashian isn't the only state resident to bask in a lavish lifestyle, and she's no stranger to giving back, having recently returned from a humanitarian mission to Haiti last month.