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Dear Friend,
The Washington Post just called 2021 “the best time in history to be one of America’s 745 billionaires.”1
The ultra-wealthy saw their net worth grow by 70% since the beginning of the pandemic, while the rest of us are struggling with rising food and gas costs—inflation driven by corporations owned by the same ultra-wealthy.2
In his State of the Union address, President Joe Biden called on the wealthiest Americans to start paying more taxes, and the public supports a wealth tax, too. Demand Progress is mobilizing to get this done in the Senate.
Will you chip in $10 to Demand Progress and help pass the wealth tax?
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Stories of out-of-control wealth have flooded the news lately.
Jeff Bezos asked the Netherlands to dismantle a historic bridge so his gigantic super yacht could pass.3 Elon Musk is funding AI brain implants.4 Mark Zuckerberg now owns more of the Hawaiian island of Kauai than the Kauai government does.5
But those stories are not where the real issue lies, which is in the ever-increasing concentration of wealth by a few people at the top at the expense of the rest of us. Right now in the U.S., fewer than 1,000 people hold more wealth than the bottom 60% of households—nearly 200 million people—combined.6
The typical working family is struggling. Corporate greed has driven inflation to a 40-year high, while wages are mostly stagnant.7 Childcare, higher education, and health care are more expensive than ever. A survey showed that 59% of Americans are one paycheck away from a housing crisis.8
There should never be unmitigated wealth among a few while the rest of us are crushed by the system. It’s time for a wealth tax. Both Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema expressed support for it at various times during 2021, so success is possible in 2022. Demand Progress drove more than 250,000 messages to Congress in 2021 in support of a wealth tax, and with a chance to get Manchin and Sinema on board, we’re pushing hard now in 2022.
Will you chip in $10 to Demand Progress and help call on Congress to pass a wealth tax?
Thanks for standing with us.
Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress
P.S.: Your contributions are what keep us nimble and prepared to take on important fights like these as they happen. Will you become a monthly donor to keep our work going?
Sources:
1. The Washington Post, "The moral calculations of a billionaire," January 30, 2022
2. Ibid.
3. NPR, "The Dutch vow to egg Jeff Bezos' yacht if a bridge is dismantled to let his boat pass," February 9, 2022
4. Fortune, "Elon Musk claims Neuralink’s brain implants will ‘save’ memories like photos and help paraplegics walk again. Here’s a reality check," February 22, 2022
5. SF Gate, "$170M bought Meta's Mark Zuckerberg a lot of land in Hawaii. But can it buy him redemption on Kauai?" February 9, 2022
6. The Washington Post, "The moral calculations of a billionaire," January 30, 2022
7. The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Inflation Rate Accelerates to a 40-Year High of 7.5%," February 10, 2022
8. Charles Schwab, "Modern Wealth Survey," May 2019
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