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John,
This week, at our #TaxBillionaires Zoom rally, we heard from leaders in Congress and in our movement as we launched an election-year campaign to make billionaires pay their fair share.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, author of the Babies Over Billionaires Act, joined us and said:
“Our goal is to rectify systemic inequalities in our tax code by making billionaires and ultra-wealthy millionaires pay their fair share.
“The bottom line is this. We cannot have a democracy without equity. We cannot have a society without equity. And when we have these levels of inequality it becomes a national security issue.
“What we’ve seen historically is the consistent underfunding of education, consistent underfunding of our public schools, consistent underfunding of public housing and the public good. And this is why we see communities and people who feel a sense of hopelessness because they have been historically marginalized and disenfranchised, and they have been victims of policy violence that’s come from the federal government because we have not ensured that the wealthy among us contribute fairly to our democracy.”
Rep. Bowman’s bill will close a gaping loophole in our tax system that lets the ultra-wealthy pay little or no federal income taxes each year. And when they do pay, it’s often at lower tax rates than nurses, firefighters and teachers pay on their wages.[1]
The Babies Over Billionaires Act will tax the increased value of the assets of the super wealthy each year, just like workers are taxed on their wages as they are earned. This way income from wealth will be treated like income from work.
By making sure billionaires pay as they profit, the Bowman bill will make the tax code fairer and raise roughly $500 billion in revenue that can be invested in high-quality public education and making healthcare more affordable.
Click here to become a grassroots co-signer of the Babies Over Billionaires Act and demand Congress finally make the richest 0.01% pay their fair share!
Together, we’re fighting for a tax code and an economy that invests in children and families and that puts working people first.
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] #TaxBillionaires Website, Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s Babies Over Billionaires Act (H.R. 7502), Americans for Tax Fairness
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