When you add up the numbers from reporting by the New York Times and the recently released House Ways and Means Committee Report on Trump’s taxes, Donald Trump paid total federal income taxes of about $1.8 million between 1996 and 2020, a 25-year period. He paid another $70 million or so between 2005 and 2007, but had all of that refunded to him when he … Continue reading Who’s Taxed More: Trump or a Cardiologist?
If you didn’t already know the federal tax law is a loophole-ridden mess that lets the ultra-rich pay a fraction of what they should, you could figure it out from this recent ProPublica headline: The Great Inheritors: How Three Families Shielded Their Fortunes From Taxes for Generations. Or, better yet, this one: How Susquehanna’s Jeff Yass Avoided $1 Billion in Taxes. Of course, if you’re … Continue reading Time To End the Capital Gains Rate Giveaway
This past Monday was Tax Day, which is undoubtedly no American’s favorite holiday. But the pain of Tax Day is not shared by all. While the typical American pays a good amount of every paycheck in taxes and hopes to get a refund after submitting their return, the ultra-wealthy have a variety of tools at their disposal that allows them to keep Tax Day virtually … Continue reading Why Billionaires Don’t Stress About Tax Day
This year’s tax season is upon us. Americans everywhere are printing out their W2s or firing up their tax software to make this year’s April 18 filing deadline. It’s an annual tradition that, while not the most enjoyable, is at least a universally shared pain. Except it’s not. There’s an important group of people who don’t have to pay their taxes every year (much less … Continue reading You pay taxes every year – why don’t billionaires?
Tensions are rising in Congress as we near September 27th, the date centrist Democrats are demanding a vote on their bipartisan infrastructure bill. They want to pass infrastructure first at the expense of the much larger, more impactful reconciliation bill, but progressives are promising to vote down infrastructure until the two pass at the same time. With all the fuss, you would think that the … Continue reading The American People Want to Tax the Rich
The fight between various factions within the Democratic party over the outcome of the infrastructure and budget reconciliation negotiations is coming to a head. For months the Caucus has been working on a strategy that would put both the infrastructure bill and a budget reconciliation package up for a vote at the same time, satisfying both centrists and progressives. Unfortunately, corporate interests have been out … Continue reading Progressives Must Hold Strong
Earlier this week the House Ways and Means Committee, led by Rep. Richard Neal, released their rewrite of the federal tax code as part of the Democrats’ budget reconciliation proposal. The committee’s proposed changes are, to say the least, completely inadequate. Their proposal preserves the preferential treatment the rich currently receive in the tax code, ensuring that billionaires in America will continue to pay a … Continue reading Neal’s Tax Plan Has Billionaires Popping Champagne
It’s time to get down to business. After months of leadup and preliminary negotiations, committees in the House are just days away from releasing the first official details of the Democrats’ multi-trillion-dollar reconciliation bill. There’s a lot at stake here, with trillions of dollars of support for American families and tax hikes on the rich hanging in the balance as a few centrist Democrats seek … Continue reading Reconciliation Negotiations Are Heating Up
As we come out of Labor Day weekend, let’s talk about labor. More specifically, let’s talk about the way the law treats labor. You’ve likely heard dozens of politicians talk endlessly about how American workers are the backbone of our country, and how the value their labor creates for their communities is what makes America great. But talk is cheap. When it comes to what … Continue reading The Value of Labor
With both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions behind us, the 2020 election is finally, really, underway, ushering in the final sprint in a race for the White House with profound economic implications. After four years of President Trump, we have a clear sense of what he wants to do with our tax code – cut taxes for millionaires, billionaires, and corporations. Considering that the … Continue reading Biden’s Tax Plan Doesn’t Go Far Enough
As the 2020 presidential candidates increasingly talk about raising taxes on the wealthy, it seems like every day a new, well-paid talking head comes out of the woodwork to try and convince us all why this would somehow, actually, be a bad thing. The latest act of mental gymnastics comes to us from Lee Ohanian, an economics professor at UCLA, who desperately wants working Americans … Continue reading Actually, Taxing Capital Is A Great Idea
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
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.
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
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
In Trump’s latest efforts to enrich wealthy people like himself, his administration recently proposed indexing the capital gains tax rate to inflation. This change would give billions of dollars in tax cuts to wealthy investors, while giving no relief at all to the working class. Right now, the capital gains tax is one of the only safeguards against the upper class’s unprecedented accumulation of wealth, … Continue reading How Many Tax Cuts Do Millionaires Need?