our tax 'system' makes no sense

 

Public Citizen

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If you think the super-rich pay too much in taxes, this email may not be for you.

But if you’ve ever wondered about wealthy people not paying their fair share, read on.

How utterly out of whack is our tax “system”?

• The wealthiest Americans (the top 0.1% — or the richest 1 out of every 1,000) end up owing barely more than 3% of their fortunes in federal, state, and local taxes.

• Never mind that these hyper-wealthy folks could easily afford much, much more.

• Meanwhile, families in the bottom 99% — millions and millions of us — end up with tax bills exceeding 7% of our total wealth (which of course may not be much to begin with).

• That means the vast majority of us are paying taxes at a rate that is more than double what the richest of the rich get away with.

• Even though just getting by is a constant struggle for so many Americans.

I’ll spare you more factoids about the CEO of a multinational corporation who pays a lower tax rate than the janitor who cleans his office night after night.

Or the billionaire who paid literally zero in income taxes last year.

Or everything the American people could have — universal healthcare, student debt relief, an end to childhood hunger and poverty, a full-scale plan to combat climate disruption — if billionaires and Big Business paid their fair share.

A bill in Congress — the Ultra Millionaire Tax Act of 2024 — would start to bring some sanity to our nation’s disgraceful and unequal tax regime.

Sponsors of this critical new legislation include Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman and Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.

The Ultra Millionaire Tax Act of 2024 would impose an additional — though actually still quite modest — tax on those whose net worth exceeds $50 million (that’s $50,000,000).

And it would give the IRS much-needed additional resources to keep after the wealthiest taxpayers (or tax cheats, as the case may be).

Tell Congress:

Economic inequality is getting worse and worse in America. One big reason is that the richest of the rich do not pay their fair share of taxes. Pass the Ultra Millionaire Tax Act of 2024 without delay.

Click to add your name now.

Thanks for taking action.

For progress,

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 

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