John,
When politicians talk about making America “great again,” they’re often pointing back to the economy of the 1980s. What they leave out is the wealth distribution that made that era work. If we actually returned to that level of balance today, the richest 0.1% would have to transfer roughly $10 trillion to the bottom 90% of Americans. That’s how extreme inequality has become.
The Federal Reserve’s own data shows just how far we’ve drifted. Today, the top 0.1% alone holds more wealth than the bottom 80% combined, while the bottom half of the country owns less than 3% of total household wealth. Wealth gains since the early 1980s have flowed overwhelmingly to the very top, not to working families.
Decades of trickle-down economics did this. Tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations were sold as growth strategies, but the growth overwhelmingly flowed upward. The Federal Reserve shows that since 1989, the top 1% captured more than twice as much wealth growth as the entire bottom 90% combined, even as productivity and corporate profits soared.
This is not an accident. Our tax code has been rewritten again and again to favor capital over work, inherited wealth over wages, and offshore profits over domestic investment. The result is an economy where working families tread water while wealth at the top compounds year after year.
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund is fighting to change that. We are taking on this rigged tax system head-on and demanding an economy that puts working people first by making corporations and the wealthy finally pay their fair share.
Please donate today to power our research and advocacy that are critical in fighting for a fairer economy and a tax system that works for the many, not the few.
Right now, the same interests that benefited from trickle-down economics are working overtime to protect their advantages. They want to lock in low taxes on extreme wealth, preserve loopholes that reward offshore profit shifting, and keep investment income taxed at lower rates than wages.
The stakes are enormous. Federal Reserve data shows that the top 1% now controls over 30% of all household wealth, about the same as the entire bottom 90%. That means that 9 out of 10 Americans enjoy little margin for emergencies, retirement, or economic shocks. This imbalance weakens the entire economy, not just individual households.
Our work is how that story changes. We produce the research that exposes how rigged the system is. We mobilize public pressure that lawmakers cannot ignore. And we advance real solutions that would rebalance the economy and restore fairness to the tax code.
This fight is about more than numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about whether people who work for a living get a fair shot, whether retirement programs remain strong, and whether the economy serves the public instead of a tiny elite.
With your support, we’re pushing back against decades of failed trickle-down policies and building an economy that actually delivers shared prosperity. Please make a contribution now and help us fight for tax fairness and an economy that works for everyone.
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Thank you for standing with us,
David Kass
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund