John,
As we close out 2025, the wealth of America’s billionaires has surged to unprecedented levels due to tax cuts and the loopholes that let those fortunes grow virtually tax free. A nurse in Oregon pays taxes on every paycheck. A billionaire can gain hundreds of millions of dollars in a year and pay nothing on those gains.
Billionaire wealth rose from roughly $2.9 trillion in 2017 to more than $8 trillion today. The majority of that income has never been taxed. This is because instead of selling their assets, the richest households borrow against their rising fortunes, spend freely, and avoid reporting taxable income for long stretches of time. Workers have no such option. They pay taxes continuously, which makes the current system both unfair and corrosive to our democracy.
My Billionaires Income Tax fixes this. It applies only to households worth more than $1 billion or earning more than $100 million for three years in a row. It taxes annual gains on tradable assets each year and applies a charge on gains from non-tradable assets when they are sold. Independent estimates show it can raise roughly $500 billion over a decade while raising taxes only on the tiniest fraction of the nation’s wealthiest households. It ensures that income from wealth is finally taxed like income from work.
Americans for Tax Fairness has been one of the most persistent voices supporting this fight against untaxed billionaire income. This year, they brought national attention to the issue, organized over a hundred public interest groups to demand action, and made it clear to Congress that no democracy can survive a system that lets the very richest operate under a separate set of rules.
We need people-power to fight back. Will you make an end-of-year donation of $5 or more to Americans for Tax Fairness so we can break the cycle of tax-free billionaire wealth gains?
The work Americans for Tax Fairness does matters to every community that has been told our country cannot afford to invest in healthcare, housing, child care, or basic infrastructure while billionaire fortunes explode untouched.
We can create a tax system built on fairness, not favoritism. We can end the era in which the richest households decide for themselves whether they will contribute. And we can send a clear signal that democracy does not belong to billionaires. It belongs to the American people.
The lobbyists for the billionaires are already flooding Capitol Hill. They want new loopholes. They want relief from scrutiny. They want a tax code that continues to benefit those at the very top.
Your support strengthens the national coalition that is pressing Congress to adopt a fair tax code, invest in working families, and make the ultra wealthy contribute in a way that reflects the enormous gains they have enjoyed. This is a chance to secure hundreds of billions of dollars for public needs without raising taxes on working people or the middle class.
Support Americans for Tax Fairness today so we can continue exposing untaxed billionaire wealth gains, defend working families, and press Congress to act on a tax code that treats income from wealth like income from work.
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Thank you for your commitment to tax fairness.
Senator Ron Wyden
U.S. Senator, Oregon
