This Holiday Season…Ensuring Billionaires Pay Their Fair Share

America has two tax codes: one that’s mandatory for workers and small businesses, and one that’s optional for billionaires and big corporations. It ‘s unfair and fundamentally weakens us as a nation. Fixing  that once and for all is urgent business. 

When I was home in Oregon last week, I heard from small business owners — who pay taxes out of each sale, whose employees pay taxes out of each paycheck — just how broken our nation’s tax code is. With the holiday season in full force, small business owners and their employees are working hard to balance the mortgage against groceries, and utilities against saving for the future. All while billionaires can call up an army of accountants and attorneys to avoid paying their fair share.

That’s unfair. And it’s why I’m working as chair of the Senate Finance Committee to restore fairness to our tax code with my Billionaires Income Tax. Preliminary estimates from the Joint Committee on Taxation show that the Billionaires Income Tax would raise $557 billion in revenue over 10 years. This is money that we can put toward providing critical opportunities for American families and communities  like affordable child care, paid leave, roads, bridges, and so much more. This score alone makes crystal clear the extent to which the current tax code is simply not equipped to tax billionaires fairly, or ensure they pay any taxes at all. 

It’s my firm belief that success and paying your fair share are not incompatible. Making sure a few hundred billionaires pay their fair share to fund critical investments in American families is a must to ensure every single American has the equal opportunity to get ahead and provide for their family.

I’m thrilled we passed the bipartisan infrastructure bill, which includes huge investments in the bedrock of our society: roads, bridges, clean water, safe power grids, and rural broadband. But as Oregonians often tell me, they won’t have the opportunity to use a better bridge or road to get to their job if they’re struggling to care for a child or an ailing loved one. 

There is more work to be done to level the playing field for families in Oregon and nationwide.

I went to the Senate floor this past week to highlight the importance of investing in child care and paid leave, because Oregonians shouldn’t have to choose between taking care of their family and showing up at work. 

My Billionaires Income Tax will go a long way to ensure that small businesses and working families have the support they deserve this holiday season and year round. I’m all in to get it across the finish line.