Here’s a helpful tip to understanding the current debate over taxing the rich: if you ever find yourself reading an opinion piece, say like the one in this morning’s Wall Street Journal, that begins with the words, “the two of us are quite rich,” take whatever follows with a heaping grain of salt. That may sound a bit counterintuitive coming from a group called the … Continue reading Making Money Doesn’t Make You A Patriot
Our nation is currently experiencing a destabilizing level of economic inequality, the highest in almost 100 years. In 2015, the top 1% of families in the US earned, on average, 26.3 times as much income as the bottom 99%. The gap between the top 1% and everyone else has only grown since then. On July 18, the US House took the first step to combat … Continue reading Undoing the Racist History of the Tipped Minimum Wage
State taxes make the meat-and-potatoes work of government possible, but nickel-and-diming poor people on their meager incomes is not the way to raise them.
In 2010, the late Justice John Paul Stevens wrote a scathing dissent in Citizens United v. FEC, an infamous Supreme Court ruling that gave corporations and special interest groups unprecedented power to spend on American politics. In that dissent, Stevens chided his fellow Justices for failing to recognize that corporations “are not themselves members of ‘We the People’ by whom and for whom our Constitution … Continue reading Senate Dems Introduce Amendment to Erase the Dark Legacy of Citizens United
Last week, the House of Representatives passed the Raise The Wage Act, which would increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour and tie it to inflation, with near-unanimous support from Democrats and near-unanimous opposition from Republicans. This is a momentous victory for workers, but self-proclaimed “grim reaper” Mitch McConnell casts a long shadow on any celebration. Surprising no one, McConnell promptly vowed not to … Continue reading Wages Don’t Kill Jobs, Corporations Do
Last week, the House passed the Raise the Wage Act of 2019. If successfully passed by the Senate, this legislation would be the first time in a decade that Congress has raised the minimum wage. Our economy has fundamentally changed over the last ten years, but for too many Americans their wages have not. The current minimum of $7.25 an hour was inadequate when it … Continue reading House Passes Historic Vote to Raise Minimum Wage to $15
According to insider reporting at the White House, the Trump administration is considering a tax cut that will almost exclusively benefit the rich. If you’re experiencing déjà vu, rest assured, you’re not alone. We have in fact been here before. In 2017, Republicans assured Americans that their $1.9 trillion tax cut for corporations and the rich would create jobs and give workers a $4,000 raise. … Continue reading Can’t Get Fooled Again: Trump’s New Tax Cut For The Rich
The end of this month will mark a full decade since Congress has raised the federal minimum wage since it was first established in 1938. That’s 10 years that millions of workers across the country have gone without a single raise, trying to eke out a living on $7.25 an hour amidst surging rent and housing, rising costs of living, and inflation. It’s a shameful … Continue reading The Fight For $15 (Finally) Comes to Congress
Simply put, wealth is wasted on the wealthy.
Last week, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted Regulation Best Interest, sold as a measure to protect everyday Americans’ retirement accounts from shady brokers. In reality, it’s a watered-down reboot of the Obama administration’s fiduciary rule, which was axed in 2017. The original fiduciary rule set concrete requirements to make sure retirement advisers put their clients ahead of their own profits and disclosed key … Continue reading Protect Retirees From Profiteering Vultures
This Sunday, June 16th 2019, Congress will add a dubious new record to its long history. This date will mark the longest ever period that the legislature has gone without raising the minimum wage since it first enacted a federal wage floor in 1938. Congress enacted the last hike, to the current minimum of $7.25 an hour, on July 24th, 2009. That means it’s been … Continue reading The Economy Has Changed. Why Hasn’t the Minimum Wage?
Most Americans pay taxes every other week. Part of every paycheck is withheld, then they file taxes in April to account for the difference. Rich people file a tax return in April too, but in any given year they are probably not paying any taxes on a huge part of the increase in their personal wealth. That’s because the majority of a rich person’s “income” … Continue reading Rich People Should Pay Their Taxes Every Year Too
On Wednesday, May 15th, Patriotic Millionaire Abigail Disney appeared before the House Committee on Financial Services Subcommittee on Investor Protection, Entrepreneurship, and Capital Markets to testify on out-of-control executive compensation in corporate America.
Filing your taxes can be time-consuming, confusing, and expensive. That’s no accident.
The saga of Boeing’s failed 737 Max has been continuously in and out of the news since the horrible crashes involving the aircraft in Ethiopia and Malaysia. This is somewhat unusual for a media environment with such a short attention span, but there’s a reason Boeing’s failure is the story that just won’t go away. The more that investigators and journalists dig into the crashes, … Continue reading Negligence, Corruption, and the 737 Max: Boeing Shows the Rot in Our Regulatory System
California residents are being held hostage, and local cities are paying their ransom. The culprits? Wealthy corporations.
When Floridians voted yes on Amendment 4 last year, they spoke loud and clear: 65% voted to restore voting rights for Floridians who completed a felony sentence (except for felony sex crimes and murder), opening the door for over 1.5 million disenfranchised Floridians to regain their voting rights. But on Wednesday, the Florida House passed a measure requiring those with felony convictions to pay up … Continue reading Florida Republicans Are Bringing Back Poll Taxes
Tax Day has come and gone, and Americans are still trying to make heads or tails of their taxes this year. But for many large corporations, the picture is much clearer: 60 Fortune 500 companies paid absolutely nothing in federal taxes this year. That’s twice as many as last year, and the GOP’s tax law is to blame. Huge corporations have moaned about the old … Continue reading 60 Huge Corporations Skipped Taxes in 2018
Today, April 22nd, 2019, is Earth Day. Right now, according to a coalition of the most knowledgeable scientists from across the world, we have less than 11 years to cut our emissions in half if we have any hope of stopping the most devastating, nature-collapsing consequences of climate change. While scientists and politicians (rightly) talk about renewable energy sources, carbon capture technologies, and climate mitigation, … Continue reading An Unequal Country Can’t Fight Climate Change
Under the Trump administration’s proposed 2020 budget, over 750,000 Americans stand to lose Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, better known as food stamps. The new rules would require all able-bodied adults without dependents to prove that they are working to receive this critical assistance, regardless of local job market conditions or other key factors. The average SNAP benefit is $126 a month per person. … Continue reading Nickel-and-Diming the Poor, Freebies for the Rich