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We are in the midst of a massive struggle to transform the priorities of the federal government. And, slowly but surely, step-by-step, we are winning that struggle. More and more Americans understand that our agenda, the progressive agenda, is the agenda of the American people.

The transformation of our national priorities did not happen by accident. It happened because of our two presidential campaigns. It happened because we helped elect courageous new progressive members to Congress, state legislatures, city councils and school boards. It happened because we knocked on doors in every state in the country talking about the needs of a struggling working class. It happened because we made phone calls and sent out texts by the millions. It happened because we came together to defeat, this past November, the most dangerous president in American history.

In other words, we are doing what has always been done in the fight for real change. We are rallying the American people at the grassroots level to stand up for economic justice, racial justice, social justice and environmental justice.

We are making progress but much, much more needs to be done.

One of the issues that, together, we must tackle is the obscene level of income and wealth inequality that currently exists in our country. This is not only an issue of economic fairness. It is an issue that threatens the very fabric of American democracy because the billionaire class uses its incredible power to dominate our political system and the legislative decision making process.

Today, I want to focus on one example of where the oligarchs have successfully used their power, and that is their ability to create a rigged and corrupt tax code that has showered trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations in this country.

Warren Buffett, one of the richest people in America, is right: We can no longer tolerate a tax code that allows him, worth $95 billion, to pay a lower effective tax rate than his secretary.

We can no longer tolerate many large corporations making billions of dollars in profits to pay nothing in federal income taxes while about half of older Americans have no retirement savings and no idea how they will be able to retire with any shred of dignity.

According to recent studies, in America today, the top 1 percent is responsible for 70% of the taxes that go unpaid each year. In other words, the top 1% is evading over $266 billion in federal taxes each and every year as they have under-reported over 20 percent of their income.

If we collected just one third of these unpaid taxes, we could make public colleges and universities tuition free, provide universal school meals to every child in America and guarantee clean drinking water to every person in this country.

Despite what some of my Republican colleagues may claim, the reality is that when you take into account federal income taxes, payroll taxes, gas taxes, sales taxes and property taxes we have, as a nation, an extremely unfair tax system that allows billionaires to pay a lower effective tax rate than teachers, truck drivers and nurses.

That has got to change. We need to create a progressive tax system based on the ability to pay, not a regressive tax system that rewards the wealthy and the well-connected.

That is why I recently introduced two pieces of legislation to ensure the wealthy and large corporations pay their fair share in taxes, and today I am asking you to add your name to demand that Congress enact these bills.

Please sign my petition – tell Congress it's time to ask the billionaire class and large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Let's send a powerful message to my colleagues that we stand together on this issue.

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Let’s be clear. The United States of America faces enormous structural crises that we must address.

Everyone understands that our infrastructure is crumbling and that we need to create millions of good-paying jobs rebuilding our roads, bridges, dams, wastewater plants, sewers, culverts, and yes, affordable housing.

In order to combat climate change, we need to fundamentally transform our energy system away from fossil fuels towards energy efficiency and renewable energy, which will also create millions of good paying jobs.

We need to do what every major country on earth does and guarantee healthcare to all people as a human right through a Medicare for All program.

We need to make certain that all of our young people, regardless of income, have the right to get a higher education.

We need to expand, not cut, Social Security, so that 20 percent of our senior citizens are no longer forced to survive on an income of less than $13,500 a year.

And one way we make those changes is by addressing our broken and unfair tax system.

As you may know, as a result of the Trump tax cuts for the rich, in 2018, over 90 Fortune 500 companies not only paid nothing in federal income taxes, they actually received billions of dollars in tax rebate checks from the IRS.

For example, in 2018:

Amazon received a $129 million refund check from the IRS after making $10.8 billion in profits.

Delta received a $187 million refund check from the IRS after making $5.1 billion in profits.

Chevron received a $181 million refund check from the IRS after making $4.5 billion in profits.

And this gross unfairness never ends. As broken and unfair as the current tax system is, some of my Republican colleagues want to make it even worse.

Recently, some leading Republicans introduced a bill to give a $1.7 trillion tax break to the 650 richest families in America – families who are now worth over $4 trillion – by completely repealing the estate tax.

Let’s be clear: Repealing the estate tax would only benefit the wealthiest one-tenth of one percent.

For example, the Walton family, the richest family in America and the owners of Walmart, would get a tax break of up to $88.5 billion. Does anyone really believe that in this difficult moment in American history we should be providing an $88 billion tax break to the wealthiest family in the country?

And, for the family of the wealthiest individual in the world, Jeff Bezos, the complete repeal of the estate tax would mean his family would receive a tax break of more than $70 billion.

Meanwhile, under the Republican plan to repeal the estate tax, over 99.9 percent of families in America, including every farmer, rancher and small business owner in America, would get nothing. Not one penny.

Why? Because the estate tax only applies to people who inherit over $11.7 million in wealth.

Well, needless to say, I have a different perspective.

That’s why I've introduced an estate tax bill with Senators Whitehouse, Gillibrand, Reed and Van Hollen that would do the exact opposite of what my Republican colleagues would do. It would demand that the families of the billionaire class start paying their fair share of taxes.

Further, I've also introduced the Corporate Offshore Tax Dodging Prevention Act. This legislation would prevent corporations from shifting their profits offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes and would restore the top corporate tax rate to 35% – where it was before Trump became president.

Today, corporations are avoiding hundreds of billions of dollars in taxes by shifting their profits to offshore tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda and other locations.

In 1952, corporate income taxes accounted for 32 percent of all federal revenue. Today, that figure is down to just 7 percent today.

The situation has become so absurd that one five-story office building in the Cayman Islands, where there is no corporate income tax, is the “home” to about 20,000 corporations.

Enough is enough. We need a tax system which asks the billionaire class to pay its fair share of taxes and which reduces the obscene level of wealth inequality in America.

Please sign my petition: Tell Congress it's time for them to have the courage to demand that the billionaire class and large corporations pay their fair share of taxes.

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Income and wealth inequality is an issue that must be addressed. We can no longer live in a society where the very rich continue to get much richer while 63 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. It is time to end the absurd levels of income and wealth inequality in this country, and one of the ways we do that is by making the wealthy pay their fair share in taxes.

Thank you for adding your name to this petition. Let us stand together in the fight for economic justice.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders

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