Tax the rich. Build a better world.
Not long ago, the ultra-wealthy paid much more in taxes. Today, the top .01% and giant corporations have rigged the rules so drastically that some billionaires end up paying zero percent. Nothing. Instead, working families are bearing more than their fair share of the tax burden—at a time when record inflation is steadily eating away at wages. It’s way past time to flip the script. What’s stopping us?
We can reduce poverty in the US, and we can follow a straight path to do it: Tax the rich; invest in working families.
In fact, we just had proof of this concept, when we funded programs to support families during the most devastating stages of the pandemic. Federal COVID relief programs produced historic results: they slashed poverty nearly in half, reduced hunger, and increased access to healthcare.
Once these programs expired, working families felt the punch immediately. Now, they’re struggling to get by without these supports in the face of record inflation, looming climate catastrophe, an enduring pandemic, and a new war with wide-reaching global implications.
This isn’t right, it isn’t tenable—and it isn’t inevitable. We can flip the script, and build an economy that is healthier, more equitable, and more resilient.
We just need to make sure that those with historic levels of wealth pay their fair share. It should be easy—but it’s not. Corporations and the ultra-wealthy have rigged the rules of the game to benefit the rich at the expense of everyone else.