There are more billionaires in the world than ever before, and they’re richer than ever, too. According to Forbes, the past year was “an amazing year” for billionaires. In their recently published yearly analysis on the world’s wealthiest, there are 141 more billionaires than there were last year — with the United States leading in billionaire citizens at 813, who are worth $5.7 trillion combined. 10 of those American billionaires have fortunes greater than 12-figures. Yes, that’s $100,000,000,000. While these billionaires had an “amazing year,” the proportion of Americans living paycheck to paycheck actually rose. While these billionaires had an “amazing year,” a minimum-wage earner who worked 40 hours a week still couldn’t afford a two-bedroom apartment in any state in the country. While these billionaires had an “amazing year,” corporations continued to price gouge hardworking consumers — with prices rising by 3.4 percent over the past year while producers’ input costs have only gone up by 1 percent. While these billionaires had an “amazing year,” two-thirds of families who needed childcare spent more than 20 percent of their income on it. Our economy has historically worked better and better for billionaires and the ultra-rich, and worse and worse for everyone else. Our current tax system allows billionaires in our country to pay a lower tax rate than a teacher, a sanitation worker, or a nurse — and Donald Trump made sure of that. Right now, a billionaire CEO pays as much in Social Security taxes as someone who makes $160,000 a year. During budget debates last year, the House GOP showed that they’d rather take food and health care away from people who are struggling than take $1 more in taxes from a billionaire. Our tax system is rigged for those at the top, plain and simple. We’ve started to tackle this issue by passing my minimum tax on massive corporations that were paying $0 in taxes, and to provide more funding to the IRS to strengthen enforcement and go after corporations and wealthy tax cheats. But there’s still more we’ve got to do, and it’s called a wealth tax. My wealth tax plan would place a two-cent per dollar tax on people with a net worth above $50 million — and an additional cent on net worths over a billion. This small tax on America’s richest would generate huge amounts of revenue totaling at least $3 trillion over a decade, providing money that would help pay for universal child care, rebuilding infrastructure, high quality k-12 education, tuition-free public college and technical schools, climate investments, and so, so much more. Just a two-cent wealth tax, Frank, would unlock so much opportunity and completely transform our economy and our country. This is one of the best and most necessary ways we can make this government work for everyone — not just the rich and powerful. And I’m fighting hard for this. We've got to keep pushing, and that's only possible with the support of grassroots supporters like you. Will you add your name to signal your support for a wealth tax? After billionaires’ amazing year, we need to double down on our efforts to finally pass a wealth tax. Thanks for being a part of this, Elizabeth  | 
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