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Friends -

As Chairman of the Budget Committee it is my view that we must, finally, write a budget that addresses the needs of the working families of our country. Yes. At a time of massive income and wealth inequality, we must take on the Big Money interests and their Super PACs and develop policy that addresses the long-term structural crises facing ordinary Americans. The very rich are doing just fine. Now it's time for government to work for the low and moderate income people of our country.

Here are the facts:

In America today over half of our people live paycheck to paycheck, inflation accounted for wages are lower than they were 48 years ago and millions work for starvation wages. Many of our older workers have nothing saved for retirement.

Despite paying twice as much for health care as other countries, over 90 million of us are uninsured or under-insured, we pay the highest prices in the world for prescription drugs and we have a growing shortage of doctors, nurses and dentists. The result is that 90 million Americans are uninsured or underinsured and some 60,000 unnecessarily die each year because they don't get to a doctor on time.

At a time when we need a well-educated workforce to compete in the global economy, millions of young people are unable to afford college or are leaving school deeply in debt. Our childcare system is dysfunctional and extraordinarily expensive, and many public K-12 schools in low-income districts are grossly underfunded.

Our physical infrastructure – roads, bridges, water systems, waste water plants, airports and mass transit – is crumbling with the American Society of Civil Engineers giving us a C-. In this "digital age," thousands of communities lack high-quality, affordable broadband.

Throughout the country we face a major housing crisis. Almost 600,000 Americans are homeless and nearly 18 million U.S. households spend at least 50 percent of their limited incomes on housing. Gentrification is driving working people from communities they have lived in for their entire lives.

We treat many of our seniors and people with disabilities shamefully. As our society ages, more and more Americans will prefer to receive the life-saving care they need in their homes, rather than at nursing facilities. We need well-trained, well-paid aides to provide those services.

Unbelievably, the United States is the only major country on earth not to guarantee workers time off for medical reasons or family crises. Millions of women are forced to go back to work a week or two after having a baby and parents are in danger of losing their jobs if they stay home with sick kids. The time is long overdue for the United States to provide 12 weeks of paid family and medical leave.

According to the scientific community, if we do not act aggressively on climate change the planet that we will be leaving our kids and future generations will be increasingly unhealthy and uninhabitable. That means that we must lead the global community in making massive cuts in carbon emissions, and transforming our energy system away from fossil fuel and into energy efficiency and sustainable energy.

Meanwhile, while working families struggle and the planet is imperiled, the wealthiest families in America have seen an explosion in their income and wealth and have never had it so good. Further, because of a corrupt and regressive tax system, many of the richest people and largest corporations in the country pay little or nothing in federal taxes.

Frankly, protecting the needs of low and moderate income Americans and addressing climate change will require trillions of dollars in new federal investments. Making certain that the very rich and large corporations start paying their fair share of taxes is an important part of that process.

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. The result is a rigged, regressive and corrupt tax code that has showered trillions of dollars in tax breaks to the top one percent.

As you may know, ProPublica released a report last week showing that the wealthiest individuals in this country pay very little, and in some cases nothing at all, in federal income taxes. While working people living paycheck to paycheck are asked to pay their fair share in taxes, Jeff Bezos and other billionaires are taking advantage of every loophole that is out there in order to drastically reduce or entirely avoid their taxes.

And by the way, it's not just individuals. There are major corporations that make billions in profits, and they also pay nothing in federal income taxes.

In order to address this gross unfairness, and raise the trillions in new revenue we desperately need, I recently introduced two pieces of legislation to reform our broken tax system. You can read more about these bills below.

But first, I need your help to send a message that the American people are sick and tired of a tax system that benefits the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

Please sign my petition:

Add your name to tell Congress to pass two of my bills that would finally make the billionaire class and major corporations pay their fair share in classes.

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Here is a bit more information on my legislation to end our rigged tax code:

The For the 99.5% Act, which I've introduced with Senators Whitehouse, Gillibrand, Reed and Van Hollen, is an estate tax bill that would demand that the families of the billionaire class start paying their fair share of taxes. This is a progressive estate tax on the fortunes of the top 0.5% of Americans who inherit over $3.5 million in wealth. It would result in up to $2.7 trillion in estate taxes owed by the families of 657 billionaires in America.

The Corporate Offshore Tax Dodging Prevention Act would prevent corporations from shifting their profits offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes and would restore the top corporate tax rate to 35%, which is where it was before Donald Trump became president. It would end tax break rewards for companies that send jobs and factories overseas and end loopholes that allow American corporations to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

As a result of Trump's tax cuts for the rich, over 90 Fortune 500 companies not only paid nothing in federal income taxes in 2018, 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.

This gross unfairness must come to an end.

Unbelievably, in the United States today there is more income and wealth inequality than almost any other major country on Earth. This inequality has only deepened with the economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, and by a tax system that allows billionaires to pay an effective tax rate lower than working people.

From a moral, economic, and political perspective, our nation will not thrive when so few have so much and so many have so little. We need a tax system which demands that the billionaire class start paying its fair share of taxes in order to reduce the obscene level of wealth and income inequality in America.

My colleagues in the Senate know where I stand on this issue. But it's not enough for them to hear from me. They need to hear from you as well if we are finally going to create a fair and progressive tax system.

Add your name to tell Congress it's time to have the courage to demand that the billionaire class and large corporations start paying their fair share in taxes.

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The U.S. faces enormous structural crises that we must address such as our crumbling infrastructure, the existential threat of climate change, health care as a human right, making public colleges and universities tuition-free, and expanding Medicare. And one of the ways we will create the changes our country so desperately needs is by fixing our broken and unfair tax system.

Thank you for adding your name to my petition today.

In solidarity,

Bernie Sanders


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