Last week, Senator Sinema took to the Senate floor to declare her opposition to altering filibuster rules in order to advance the two Democratic voting rights packages: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. By doing so, she once again betrayed the trust the people of Arizona placed in her, and made our country a worse place in the … Continue reading We Can’t Give Up On Voting Rights
Yesterday, the United States celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day. We hope that you were able to take some time to honor and celebrate King’s legacy, just as we hope Senate Democrats do by changing the filibuster to pass essential voting rights legislation. Because of the federal holiday, you might have missed the release yesterday of Oxfam’s new bombshell report Inequality Kills. The report lays … Continue reading Inequality Kills
Abigail E. Disney is a documentary filmmaker, activist, co-founder of Fork Films, and podcast host of “All Ears.” She is a member of the Patriotic Millionaires. The following is her foreword for the recently release Inequality Kills report from Oxfam International. We have just spent nearly two years, over and over again, watching people die—they’ve died of neglect, of carelessness, of a lack of empathy, … Continue reading Abigail E. Disney Foreword to Oxfam “Inequality Kills” Report
Once again, progress has been stymied by a small minority in the US Senate. This week started with Senate Democrats engaged in critical negotiations over two pieces of voting rights legislation: the Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. With 50 Senate Democrats supporting these bills, they have the votes to pass each. Yet thanks to the legislative filibuster, and … Continue reading To save our democracy, Democrats must scrap the filibuster
Patriotic Millionaire Abigail Disney has been one of the most outspoken advocates on our issues for years, and we are excited to share the news of yet another incredible and impactful piece of work that her and her team have produced. The nonprofit Sundance Institute recently announced that The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales – a film that Abigail co-directed and co-produced – will … Continue reading PM Abigail Disney’s film premieres at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival
Happy New Year! With a new year comes new challenges and opportunities, and it’s safe to say that there will be no shortage of either in the coming weeks. As you probably know, shortly before the end of the year, West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin declared in a Fox News interview that, after months of negotiations, he could not vote to support President Biden’s Build … Continue reading Democrats need Manchin on board before it’s too late
What is your name and what do you do for a living? Jackie Boberg. I used to be in tech sales and marketing and now I’m a retired and an artist. At the height of the pandemic can you describe what a typical day was like for you? To be honest, I recognize my experience is vastly different than what so many others experienced during … Continue reading A Conversation with Patriotic Millionaire, Jackie Boberg
Last week we told you about the 2022 World Inequality Report, which outlines in stark detail just how bad income and wealth inequality have gotten around the world. In the US alone, the top 10% of earners now take home 45% of all income, while the bottom 50% takes just 13%. Wealth inequality is even worse, with the top 10% of wealth holders in the … Continue reading Tax Avoidance is Making Inequality Worse
If the last year has taught us anything, it’s that we can no longer ignore the widening disparity between the richest Americans and the rest of the country. We’ve seen billionaire wealth (and some billionaires themselves) skyrocket to unprecedented levels, while most Americans are just struggling to get by. This is simply unsustainable – we are reaching a point where inequality is so extreme that … Continue reading Inequality is Out of Control
As Democrats in the Senate continue to debate the final details of what should be included in the Build Back Better Act, we want to take this week to shine a spotlight on why this piece of legislation is so important. Inequality in the United States and around the world is out of control. The recently-released 2022 World Inequality Report details just how bad this problem has gotten, and … Continue reading Inequality will not be solved with tax breaks for the rich
Who does Senator Kyrsten Sinema work for: Arizonans or private equity billionaires? That’s the question that should be on all of her constituents’ minds as Senator Sinema stands in the way of the much-needed tax reform in President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda, and it’s the question that the Patriotic Millionaires are asking in a new pressure campaign we launched in Arizona today. Every single … Continue reading Patriotic Millionaires Target Senator Sinema With Pressure Campaign
Before the Thanksgiving recess, House Democrats were finally able to pass their version of President Biden’s Build Back Better Act through the process of reconciliation. We took the time to celebrate this action as a step in the right direction for tax fairness and economic equity. There’s still more work to do, however, as Senate Democrats now need to negotiate their version of the bill. Senate Majority Leader … Continue reading Manchin and Sinema need to get on board with Build Back Better
With a vote on President Biden’s Build Back Better plan looming ahead in the Senate, centrist and right-wing politicians are yet again wringing their hands over the prospect of inflation. Some Senators, most notably West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, have cited inflation as a potential reason to delay the passage of the Build Back Better Act. While it’s true that inflation is on the rise, there … Continue reading Setting the Record Straight on Inflation
Last Wednesday, Peter Coy of the New York Times released an opinion piece in which he argues that so-called “benefits cliffs” in the US discourage low-income workers from taking higher-paid work. To explain the “benefits cliff,” he gives an example of a fictitious 25-year-old single mother, Lei, with two children. Lei has a full-time job, but because it pays her less than she and her … Continue reading Want to solve the benefits cliff problem? Pay workers more
Congress is back in session this week and negotiations over President Biden’s Build Back Better Act continue. House Democrats are waiting for the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) to release its cost estimate for the package and then, hopefully, a vote will be held immediately after, as soon as this Friday. There are still obstacles in the Senate, however. Some Senators, most notably Joe Manchin, claim to … Continue reading Don’t fall for the inflation fear-mongering
Even though Congress is out of session this week, the fight for fair taxation continues. House and Senate Democrats are still deciding what to do with the State and Local Tax (SALT) cap, which sets a limit on the amount of state and local taxes that taxpayers can deduct from their federal tax bills. The House plan would raise the cap from $10,000 to $80,000, … Continue reading Want to fix the economy? Tax the rich
Over the weekend, online personality, self-described “edge lord,” and richest person alive Elon Musk taunted Americans on Twitter in response to a Democratic proposal that would tax unrealized gains for the obscenely wealthy. The billionaire lamented that, because of his meager salary, in order to pay his tax bill under the billionaires income tax he would be forced to sell some of his hundreds of … Continue reading Billionaires Play by a Different Set of Rules
This week, the big fight in Congress is over the SALT cap. Since the passage of the Trump tax bill in 2017, wealthy taxpayers in higher tax states like New York and New Jersey have had a cap on the amount of state and local taxes that they can deduct from their federal tax bill. Pressured by a cadre of blue state billionaires looking to … Continue reading Fighting over SALT and the Virginia Election
Democrats just can’t get out of their own way. As negotiations around the Build Back Better Act continue, a small group of House Democrats are undermining their party’s ability to sell the legislation to the American people by including a proposal in the Act to lift the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap. Doing so would put more money into the pockets of millionaires … Continue reading Democrats Cannot Pass This Tax Cut for Millionaires
This week, Congressional Democrats are knee-deep in the trenches of negotiations over the final details of President Biden’s Build Back Better Agenda. The President’s initial $3.5 trillion proposal included new spending for social programs and bold tax increases on the wealthy and corporations, including a tax on billionaires’ unrealized capital gains and significant increases in corporate, income, and capital gains tax rates. But now it … Continue reading A (Tiny) Step in the Right