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Dear John,
From the Latin, oligoi (meaning “few”) and arkhein (“to rule”), an oligarchy is “rule by a few.”
Perilously close to monarchy, it’s directly opposed to democracy, “rule by the people.” As a societal power structure, oligarchy thrives under a “supreme leader,” a strong man who gathers dictatorial power as more wealth is channeled into the hands of fewer people.
The United States is veering more and more deeply into oligarchy, as concentrations of wealth within a few families have intensified with each generation.
The top 0.1% of individuals have nearly as much wealth as the bottom 90% combined. We are seeing the ultra-wealthy take control of social media, and billionaires give millions of dollars in gifts to Supreme Court justices. The power of big money in politics has as its primary aim to continue increasing the power of big money in politics.
In this country, we tax income earned by hard-working families, but we do not tax the very accumulation of wealth that is throwing our system into such imbalance. To change it, we need to build support and pass the Oppose Limitless Inequality Growth and Reverse Community Harms (OLIGARCH) Act and finally tax extreme wealth.
Our democracy is at risk due to the endless intensification of inequality. Click here to send a direct message urging your representative today to co-sponsor and pass the OLIGARCH Act now.
The OLIGARCH Act would establish a wealth tax with four brackets:
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2% for all wealth between 1,000 and 10,000 times median household wealth;
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4% for all wealth between 10,000 and 100,000 times median household wealth;
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6% for all wealth between 100,000 and 1,000,000 times median household wealth;
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8% for all wealth over 1,000,000 times median household wealth.
As we know, some of the richest individuals consider tax evasion to be a patriotic duty. Evidently, it’s even something to brag about while running for president.
The enforcement mechanisms in the bill will make it much harder to avoid paying what is owed by ramping up audits to a full 30% of the ultra-rich that qualify. There are also penalties for severely undervaluing holdings -- another bragging point we often heard from the former president.
Extreme concentration of wealth into a few hands sucks the vitality of the economy away from low and middle-income families and puts democracy at risk. Alternatively, creating a wealth tax will make it possible to fund tremendous social benefits for the common good.
A tax on wealth, and not just income, is an overdue correction to the extreme excesses of wealth accumulation. Send a message to your representative to co-sponsor and pass the OLIGARCH Act today.
Thank you for helping bring better balance to society as a whole.
Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action
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