All year we’ve been talking about how fossil fuels and billionaires — we call them the Oiligarchs — are teaming up to promote fascism and pollution. That’s why we named our climate march last weekend “Make Billionaires Pay.” And it’s why we took nonviolent direct action to delay Trump’s speech to the United Nations a few days later. That was just the latest in a series of anti billionaire actions we’ve taken with the anti-fascist climate movement.
But protest and public education aren’t our only tools – Congress and the legislatures write the tax code. And there’s a bill in Congress that would tax the billionaires and raise hundreds of billions for our climate and communities. Will you sign on as a citizen cosponsor and help us build support for the Billionaires Income Tax Act?
The problem is simple: The wealthiest Americans have gamed the system for decades, growing richer and more powerful without paying taxes. While working people pay taxes on every paycheck, billionaires avoid taxes on their stock portfolios, real estate, and private business holdings. Now, Congress has a chance to put an end to this two-tiered tax system.
The newly introduced Billionaires Income Tax, championed by Sen. Ron Wyden and Reps. Don Beyer and Steve Cohen, would require billionaires and ultra-millionaires to pay a minimum 23.8% tax rate on all of their income, including both regular earnings and unrealized capital gains.
That means billionaires would finally pay taxes on the wealth they accumulate every year, just like workers pay on wages.
This legislation applies to only the top 0.01%, but it would raise an estimated $557 billion over the next decade. That’s money that can be invested in our communities’ schools, healthcare, climate resilience, and clean energy — everything we need to fund a green new deal for all.
The public is already on our side. Poll after poll shows strong bipartisan support for making the wealthy pay their fair share. But Trump and his fossil fueled fascist regime have hundreds of billions of reasons to fight us. As always, our most power tool is a grassroots movement to fight the oiligarchs — brave, committed, and ready to stand up and be counted.
If that’s you, sign and send a message to tell Congress to end the billionaire tax scam and pass the Billionaires Income Tax.
I certainly agree. the idea billionaires pay less tax than working people is intolerable. The idea taxes are capped so that the rich pay less in tax is unacceptable. Company CEO’s that earn a thousand times what their employees earn is just not viable and is really not good for any one. It troubles me that such people are so short sighted, keeping the poor, poor ultimately will limit the wealthy income as the poor simply will not have the money to spend outside the necessity’s of life. This short sidedness and the push of the wealthy to make our country into a fascist state will hurt us all.