Most working Americans see taxes taken out of their paycheck every other week. Wages are taxed in real-time, while investment growth (from stocks, dividends, etc., ) is only taxed when the investment is sold. On any given year, rich people are not paying any taxes on the majority of any increase in their personal wealth. This is because most of their wealth comes from their … Continue reading Equalizing Capital Gains is Essential for Equality
One afternoon in Georgia, a man lifted a $2 can of beer from a corner store. He was quickly caught, prosecuted, and ordered to wear a $1,000 ankle monitoring device as part of a plea deal – at his own expense. The man, already impoverished, sold his plasma to try and make the minimum payments. When he fell behind, the court jailed him for not being able … Continue reading In Revenue Shortfalls, Don’t Fine the Poor – Tax the Rich
September 2, 2019 is the 125th year that Labor Day has been celebrated as a national holiday. This Labor Day, people all around the US will enjoy a day off and appreciate the end of summer. They will spend time with family and friends, host barbecues, and take advantage of Labor Day sales. But as we celebrate this holiday, we must remember the legacy of … Continue reading Labor Day 2019
The first Monday of every September, the country comes together to celebrate Labor Day: a holiday meant to celebrate overworked, underpaid workers and rally around shared values. 125 years later, American workers continue to put in tireless hours only to be behind the 1% of the country that enjoys loopholes in tax codes. While gross inequality lingers on today’s Labor Day, Donald Trump is advocating for … Continue reading Our Tax Code Should Value Labor, Not Wealth
Amid warning signs of recession, rather than helping normal Americans Donald Trump has yet again suggested a new round of tax cuts for the rich. Trump has proposed, then backed down from, then proposed again, then backed away from again, indexing capital gains to inflation, which would hand over $100 billion in tax cuts to some of the richest Americans. We shouldn’t be surprised that … Continue reading America First or Rich People First?
We know that algorithms can be used to institutionalize and credentialize injustices, but just recently the Trump administration proposed new rules to allow mortgage lenders to be exempt from claims of racial discrimination if they use algorithms.
In 2017, Republican legislators in the House and Senate passed a sweeping $1.9 trillion tax cut bill, the vast majority of which went directly into the pockets of millionaires, billionaires, and multinational corporations. Emboldened by the success of their first attempt, they’re now back for more tax cuts for the rich. This time, they want to further decrease capital gains taxes.
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
This week, many Americans were shocked to learn that Doordash, the most popular food delivery app in the US, steals tips meant for delivery drivers. Few people knew that their tips were going to subsidize the bottom line of this corporation rather than into the pockets of the people that delivered their food. But even fewer know that this arrangement is actually incredibly common, and … Continue reading Doordash Isn’t Alone – Almost Every Restaurant in America Uses Tips to Pad their Bottom Line
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
If you’ve kept pace with the news recently, then you’ve been reading a lot over the last few weeks of horrific conditions in which some people in this country are being held: babies without diapers, children without beds, parents separated from their kids. Honestly, I am having trouble typing the keys on my keyboard because I am so disgusted thinking about it. The Trump administration, … Continue reading Money Shouldn’t Buy A Different Kind of Justice
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
Last week, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Maryland and North Carolina’s gerrymandered district maps. More precisely, it ruled that it did not have the ability to pass judgment on whether or not a map is excessively gerrymandered along partisan lines. Chief Justice John Roberts acknowledged in the court’s opinion that the maps were “blatant examples of partisanship,” but the 5-4 conservative majority fell … Continue reading Republicans Split Votes, Supreme Court Splits Hairs
Simply put, wealth is wasted on the wealthy.
From time to time, a news story about a very wealthy individual doing something very kind with their money goes viral. Billionaire Robert F. Smith recently paid off the student debt of the entire Morehouse College class of 2019. Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of Chobani, paid off student lunch debts for an entire Rhode Island school district. Last year, Patagonia CEO Rose Marcario pledged to donate … Continue reading Rich People’s Charity Won’t Save The World