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John,
Through their greed, lies and manipulation, billionaires are inadvertently making their own case for a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax―because if billionaires paid their fair share in taxes, they’d have a lot less to rig our economy and our democracy.
By purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk is controlling information while simultaneously elevating hate speech.[1] But, with his massive ego getting in the way, he’s instead running Twitter into the ground.
Jeff Bezos is crafting the image of a philanthropist by announcing that he’ll be donating much of his fortune to charity (likely using tax write-offs and loopholes to save himself even more money). But this announcement came alongside another―that Amazon would be laying off thousands of workers.[2] This is yet another reminder that Bezos has made his fortune on the backs of working people while utilizing unfair labor practices.
This week, a new investigative report shows that billionaire Richard Uihlein, who was the single biggest Republican donor in the 2022 midterms, also gave $20 million to right-wing election deniers and anti-abortion groups in the 12 months following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.[3] As the watchdog group Documented said, “an array of groups pushing election conspiracy theories are backed by literally tens of millions of dollars from just one billionaire couple.”
And, of course, there’s Donald Trump who one week after announcing his next presidential campaign, hosted bigots and a white nationalist at his Mar-a-Lago estate.[4] He also lost his final legal appeal―to the U.S. Supreme Court no less―to prevent Congress from getting his tax returns.
Billionaires are able to hoard their wealth, and use it to rig our economy and our democracy, because our laws allow them to. That’s why we’re fighting for a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax, which would ensure the richest 0.01% pay taxes each year on their wealth gains, not just when they feel like it. And we’re also supporting stronger election-spending laws to limit the ability of plutocrats to essentially purchase candidate victories.
Pitch in $5 today to hold billionaires accountable and demand they pay taxes each year, just like workers pay on wages. We have just four weeks left this year to get a large group of members of Congress to cosponsor this critical legislation and show whose side they are on.
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This much wealth and power in the hands of an elite few is corrupting our society. We’re fighting back―and we have the American people with us!
Frank Clemente
Executive Director
Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund
[1] “Why is Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover increasing hate speech?” The Brookings Institution, Nov. 23, 2022
[2] “Amazon Is Said to Plan to Lay Off Thousands of Employees,” New York Times, Nov. 14, 2022
[3] “Inside the Billionaire-Backed ‘Hub for Election Denial’”, Daily Beast, Nov. 28, 2022
[4] “Trump dined with Kanye West and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, adviser says,” CBS News, Nov. 26, 2022
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