Americans for Limited Government keeps the names of donors secret, but the group's chairman, New York real estate developer HowardRich, has long been a supporter of efforts to reduce the size of government.
Although the council favours a consumption tax, it argued that Mr Howard's proposals would help rich people and leave those on lower incomes worse off.
Hollywood hitmakers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard of Imagine Entertainment plan to turn the Rich saga into a movie, based on the 2009 book by Swiss journalist Daniel Ammann, The King of Oil: The Secret Lives of Marc Rich.