Make It Better for You

Positive, practical ideas to make a more just America.

Paying for Infrastructure: Ignore the Wealthy’s Howls

by · Published · Updated

Imagine an America where crumbling bridges are fixed, millions of blue-collar people earn good wages on clean-energy projects and working families can afford quality child care. And when you hear the howls of wealthy corporations and individuals who protest that “we just can’t afford it,” howl back.

Trillions of dollars have been awarded to people and companies who neither needed nor asked for the money. President Donald Trump crowed that his 2017 Tax Reform and Jobs Act gave a tax cut to every American. What he never admitted, though, was how little the little guy got.

Source: Center for Budget + Policy Priorities (February 27, 2019)

The poorest Americans got an average $70 tax cut, and those making slightly more got $390, according to the Tax Policy Center. If paid in dollar bills, those benefits could have fit in a plain white envelope. But you’d need a wheelbarrow to deliver the Trump tax cut awarded to the top 1 percent of earners ($61,090) and the top 0.1 percent – a whopping $252,300 in tax cuts to people with annual incomes averaging $48.5 million.

Sound familiar? It should. When George W. Bush was president, Congress passed tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 that showered wealthy people with financial benefits. While millionaires received $130,000 on average, the middle class – those earning $50,000 to $75,000 a year – got about $1,200. Shamefully, the poorest Americans, who struggle on a meager $10,000 a year, got $4. You read that correctly.

A virtual firehose of your tax dollars have flowed to the wealthiest interests in the U.S. for the last 20 years. It’s time to reverse the spigot and build a better America for the rest of us.

TAKE ACTION

Help build grassroots support for President Biden’s proposals to rebuild roads and bridges (the “infrastructure bill”) and to support American families, communities and cleaner energy.

  • Call your two U.S. Senators and your Congressman/woman by phoning (202) 224-3121.
  • Use #BuildBackBetter in your social media posts.
  • Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.