John,
Sadly, the Gilded Age is here again.
This week, America’s 651 billionaires reached a disgraceful milestone. Since the pandemic began in March, their wealth jumped by $1 trillion, or more than one-third. They are now worth more than $4 trillion. During that same time, 15 million Americans contracted COVID-19 and 284,000 people died from it.
To put that $1 trillion wealth increase in perspective, that’s enough to send a stimulus check of $3,000 to every one of the roughly 330 million men, women and children in America. A family of four would receive over $12,000.
This new report from Americans for Tax Fairness and our allies at the Institute for Policy Studies, highlights how the wealth gains of America’s 651 billionaires―largely white men―come at a time when low-wage workers, people of color and women have suffered disproportionately in the combined healthcare and economic crises facing our country.[1]
As these extraordinary wealth gains have been realized by a tiny sliver of the population, nearly 67 million people lost work; 98,000 businesses permanently closed; and 12 million people lost employer-sponsored health insurance.
Yet, Mitch McConnell and most Republicans in Congress are blocking new stimulus checks from being included in the modest bipartisan pandemic relief package worth $900 billion―less than the increase in billionaire wealth the last 9 months.
Together, we’re fighting for an economy and a tax system that lifts up working people, and ensures America’s billionaires pay their fair share toward our short-term and long-term recovery.
Donate to Americans for Tax Fairness today to help us fight for a fair share tax system and a robust pandemic response that leaves no one behind.
In the short term, we need a COVID relief package that meets the urgency of the moment, not Senator Mitch McConnell’s skinny bill that does nothing more than offer political cover for congressional Republicans.
We need a lot more aid for state and local services at a time when budget gaps―including for education―are estimated to be at least $500 billion. We need enhanced unemployment benefits for millions still out of work. And we need a lot more money for vaccine distribution so that all of us can quickly get protection from this deadly virus.
In the long-term, we need major reform that taxes the extraordinary wealth of the billionaires and millionaires and uses that wealth to create an economy that works for all of us.
Since the pandemic began, Jeff Bezos’s wealth grew by $71.4 billion, to $184 billion―an increase of 63%, thanks to his Amazon stock. If that wealth growth was distributed to all of Bezos’s 810,000 U.S. employees, each would get over $88,000 and Bezos would not be any “poorer” than he was 9 months ago.
Elon Musk―the founder of Tesla and SpaceX―has seen his wealth grow by 482% from $24.6 billion to $143 billion. That $119 billion growth in wealth is more than five times NASA’s $22.6 billion budget in FY2020, the federal agency Musk has credited with saving his company with a big federal contract when the firm’s rockets were failing and it faced bankruptcy.
None of this wealth growth is taxed under our current tax system. That’s why we need a tax on wealth to rid us of this scandal like we need a vaccine to rid of this COVID-19 scourge.
At a time when America’s 651 billionaires are worth a combined $4 trillion, let’s fight for a pandemic response and a fair share tax system that puts working people, communities of color and marginalized communities first.
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Together, as we prepare for a new Congress and a new President in 2021, we will make our voices heard and lead the fight for an end to the new Gilded Age.
Thank you,
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness
[1] “Net Worth Of U.S. Billionaires Has Soared By $1 Trillion—To Total Of $4 Trillion—Since Pandemic Began,” Americans for Tax Fairness, Dec. 9, 2020
