A billion dollars a day?
In recent days we’ve learned that the collective wealth of America’s 10 richest billionaires has more than doubled during this pandemic. That’s right, they’re getting $1 billion richer per day. Three of those billionaires live in Washington, yet they are not required to pay what they truly owe to our communities in taxes. As a result, we can’t fund the things that make for healthy communities, and many of our neighbors can’t meet their basic needs.
This legislative session, we’re working to change that by supporting a wealth tax in Washington. If passed, roughly 100 ultra-wealthy Washingtonians would pay a 1 percent tax on assets like stocks and bonds over $1 billion.1
A tax on billionaires should be simple, but these obscenely wealthy people are using their power to preserve the inequitable tax structure that serves them. Meanwhile, they’re starving our communities of the resources we need to recover and build back from the pandemic.
The excessive wealth tax would raise $2.5 billion per year and could fund public programs most of us rely on like public education, health care, child care, and parks. This shift to investing in the people who work and live here - instead of rewarding passive financial growth - has been shown elsewhere to spur innovation and long-term economic growth.
All of us deserve to thrive, whether we’re from a farmworking community, work a gig job in a tech town, or are a retiree on a fixed income. By requiring billionaires to pay what they truly owe our communities in taxes, we’re bringing Washington another step closer to a more prosperous future for all. Join us in supporting a wealth tax in the state Legislature today!
