Bastille Day is not, as far as I know, a gift-giving holiday (*:guillotines not included), but this week I received an unexpected present: A cool summary of "How to Tax the Ultrarich" by the social science journalists @scholarpeer.bsky.social . Read it here: scholarpeer.com/this-proposa...

I’m hoping to post weekly going forward. If you don’t mind diving into the tax and economic policy weeds, check it out. Subscriptions are free. open.substack.com/pub/azbob2/p...

In 2013, Bob Lord on our team wrote, "If the growth rate in America’ largest fortunes over the past 30 years continues unabated, we’ll see our first American trillionaire before 2040." Unfortunately for our democracy & economy, he was right. Read his 2013 piece here: inequality.org/article/tril...

(Not so) Fun fact: if the country’s wealth were distributed as it was in 1982, the richest 1500 households would control 1.5% of total wealth. Today, just 10 households do. Time to tax them more?

You may have heard: “The top 1% pay 40% of income taxes” why raise taxes on the wealthy? The real issue isn't the 1%. It's the top 0.1% & 0.01%, where massive fortunes grow & tax rules are incredibly regressive. The result? A tiny slice of Americans control trillions in wealth.

My colleague @chuck77.bsky.social was fast out of the gates on this one. On top of everything else, Noem has a long history of lying to protect economic elites. inequality.org/article/adio...

Enormous wealth allows our oligarchs to seize media outlets. They use these media outlets to influence public opinion — like convincing us not to tax enormous wealth. IPS fellow @azboblord.bsky.social in @inequality.org:

Our VP of Tax Policy @azboblord.bsky.social breaks down how billionaires like Jeff Bezos pay far lower tax rates than ordinary Americans and what that means for our democracy.⬇️ inequality.org/article/the-...

NEW: The richest 19 Americans now own over 2% of our country's wealth, but pay as little as 4% effective annual tax, while the average American might pay 20%. To defend our democracy, we must fix our tax code, says IPS fellow @azboblord.bsky.social. Listen:

Literally half the country wants to abolish ICE and the Democrats are going to make them pinky swear not to deport U.S. citizens anymore

For far more than you really wanted to know about how zillionaires dodge tax on inter-generational transfers, see papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

My post from 12 years ago was dead on. Would have preferred to have been dead wrong. inequality.org/article/tril...

The combined wealth of just two Americans now tops $1 TRILLION. Tax the damned billionaires yet?

1. Trump 1.0 was more corrupt than even Nixon. 2. Trump 2.0 is Trump 1.0, but to coin a phrase, ON STEROIDS. 3. Yet the challenge for Democrats is world weary cynicism that all politicians are the same. Unforced errors like this reinforce 3 & are really bad for the party!

Bold change often bubbles up from the states...

Finally, as a Palestinian-American, I sincerely hope that this is the first step on the long road to liberty for my people. I have faith — no, I know — that one day, our two peoples will look back and say this was a dark chapter in our shared history, as one.

This is fucking appalling. It’s collective punishment, it’s incitement to genocide, and the US needs to stop funding it. I stand with the millions of Gazans under siege and the hundreds of thousands of Israelis protesting against the manmade horrors plaguing Gaza.

At least 70 people have already showed up to protest against ICE at the Broadview Detention Facility. This is what showing up for your community looks like. Stand for your neighbors. Abolish ICE.

I’ll bet most people don’t know who Thomas Peterffy is, but out of every $2500 of American wealth, his share is $1. If you’re an average American, your share of that $2500 would be less than one-thousandth of a penny. Tax the Damn Billionaires

For the wealthy, the tax code removes all the risk. That means billionaires can sit on massive gains for decades without paying a dime and keep borrowing against their wealth. Bob Lord breaks down why we need a tax code that rewards work, not wealth. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Tax. The. Billionaires. Now. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Social justice, most of us understand, demands a “poverty line” and efforts to keep our poorest above it. But that justice will remain elusive until we also set a “wealth line” and keep all our richest below it. @dhnnjyn.bsky.social @ingridrobeyns.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

If Trump achieved the result he wants, he’d in substance have done no more than reverse what he did in 2017 when he slashed Walmart’s corporate tax rate.

What Trump proposes here gets awfully close to a corporate tax rate increase. www.commondreams.org/news/trump-e...

NEW: Our current effective tax rate on capital gains shrinks as the gains grow in size and duration, inviting the tax dodge — Buy-Hold for Decades-Sell — that’s driving America’s wealth concentration. Our future depends on reforming the capital gains tax. @azboblord.bsky.social in @inequality.org:

In the latest installation of his ‘Buy-Hold for Decades-Sell’ series, IPS fellow @azboblord.bsky.social illustrates how low tax rates on investment gains can radically change retirement outcomes — through the tales of Bob Golfsalot and Morris Worksalot. inequality.org/article/the-...

Trumpistas are doing everything imaginable to untax the rich & their corporate empires. But we can't stop exploring new ways to create a tax system that helps build a more equal future. Check this new @rooseveltinstitute.org study. @nikolusiani.bsky.social rooseveltinstitute.org/publications...

Charles Littlejohn has gotten a draconian sentence for leaking information that exposed our US Oligarchial class for the tax evaders they are. It was a public service, and he deserves a commutation. Sign a petition here. freecharleslittlejohn.com

NEW: @patrioticmillionaires.org and @revolvingdoordc.bsky.social launched a letter campaign calling on President Biden to commute the prison sentence of IRS whistleblower Charles Littlejohn to time served.

The information Charles Littlejohn leaked about billionaire tax avoidance was a huge wake up call we needed. At the behest of those billionaires, he was sentenced to six times the maximum guideline sentence. Tell Pres. Biden to commute that extreme sentence: freecharleslittlejohn.com

The year 794 marked the beginning of the Japanese Renaissance. If you were around then and increased your wealth by $1M per day since then, you’d be about tied with Elon Musk.

On its maiden flight, Mark Zuckerberg flew his brand-new, $80 million private jet from California to his mammoth 1,300-acre estate in Hawaii, burning 5,500 kilograms of fuel and releasing 19 tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere. #agu24

There are about 338 million Americans. Elon Musk could write each of us a $1,000 check and have $25 billion left over for “walking around money.” Tax the damn billionaires already!

“Our health care system, in the end, shouldn’t be making our rich richer. Our richest instead should be paying enough in taxes to help all Americans stay healthy.” inequality.org/great-divide...

The combined wealth of the 4 richest Americans now exceeds $1 trillion. Can we tax the damn billionaires yet?

Democrats need to accept that if you’re going to fight the Republicans on their tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, you can’t be led by a man those same billionaires and corporations believe they can bribe through his son.

Convincing and infuriating piece: jacobin.com/2024/11/harr...

The world now has 18 fortunes of over $100 billion. Collectively, the holders of those fortunes control over $2.5 trillion, more than 1 in every $200 of global wealth. Context; there are 8 billion humans on the planet. Tax the billionaires!

Hey, that’s us! POLITICO spotlighted the letter that we sent to House Democratic leadership calling for the removal of Rep. Neal as Chair of the Ways and Means Committee, after it was revealed that Neal’s son had inappropriate ties to tax lobbyists. www.politico.com/news/2024/11...

The 4 wealthiest Americans are closing in on $1 TRILLION in combined wealth. That’s greater than the total wealth of the populations of several entire states. Tax the billionaires!

The Walton family now controls $400 billion of wealth, while half the country lives paycheck to paycheck, or worse. American exceptionalism!!!

Hey look, we’re on the verge of our first $400 billion family! Congratulations, America.

A Trump-appointed judge has struck down a Biden rule that expanded overtime pay to over 4 million salaried workers. You don’t need a law degree to understand that there is nothing unjust about low-salary workers receiving proper pay for all the work they do. www.fastcompany.com/91230653/ove...