As the latest COVID-19 variant rages, increasing risk for millions of people, we should pause this Labor Day to remember and thank the many workers whose hard labor helps get us all through the worst of times.
But the health-care workers, truckers, farmworkers, retail workers, teachers and delivery people who kept us all going during COVID deserve more than just gratitude. They deserve a fairer economy where working people can prosper and build a better future, not one in which they have to struggle to keep up while billionaires and Fortune 500 corporations get richer and richer.
User Upload Caption: Lorraine Tuliano is retired from the Navy. She is the former president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO.
– Original Credit: Courtesy photo
Congress has an opportunity this year to level the playing field and reshape the economy by fixing the broken tax code that enables billionaires in this country to pay less in tax than a nurse, a carpenter or a secretary.
Most of us make our living from a job. I was a systems engineer working for the Navy on simulation and training systems for 34 years before I retired in 2014. Thanks to my union, I earned a good salary and benefits on my job. And, every year, I paid my taxes.
But the super-rich don’t have to work: their income comes primarily from investment gains — the rising value of their stocks, bonds, real estate, private businesses and more. When they sell one of those investments for more than its purchase price, that’s called a “capital gain.” Capital gains — and a related payment to stockholders known as “dividends” — are taxed at half the rate that workers pay on wages: 20% for investment income compared to 37%, the top rate for wages and salaries.
Our tax code privileges wealth over work, so not only do the rich pay less taxes on investments than the rest of us pay on wages, but they also get to completely avoid income tax on investment forever thanks to a special loophole.
It’s no wonder that the rich are getting richer. But unfortunately, that’s not the case for the rest of us. Florida’s 65 billionaires increased their wealth during the pandemic by nearly a third — from $183.2 billion since the start of the pandemic to $241.7 billion last month. At the same time 4,865,524 Floridians have lost jobs, and over 425,000 people went without health care because they’re in the Medicaid coverage gap.
Thanks to the 2017 Trump tax law, in 2020 the richest 1% in Florida got an average tax break of $81,140, while the middle-income people got an average reduction of $550. In the same year, 55 huge companies — including FedEx, Nike and Salesforce.com — paid zero federal income taxes despite combined profits topping $40 billion.
The upcoming “Build Back Better” package in Congress would start unrigging this unbalanced system by rewarding work and not just wealth. The bill would increase taxes on the very wealthy and profitable corporations to fund more affordable health care, child care and education, create jobs and establish new benefits like paid family and medical leave.
As a lifelong worker and former president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO, I’m glad to see workers finally prioritized in Congress. I applaud Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy, my U.S. Representative, for voting to advance the House budget resolution that would make the super-wealthy —those making over $1 million a year — pay the same tax rate on their investment income as working people do on their wages.
The package would end tax loopholes and make the tax code fairer while raising trillions to reinvest in health care, education and jobs. Under the proposal, no one making less than $400,000 a year would pay higher taxes.
A fair tax system isn’t a partisan issue. Polls consistently show Democrats, independents and Republicans want the rich and corporations to pay their fair share and that money used to improve working family lives. Most working Americans, regardless of who they voted for, want a fair chance to work hard, support their families, and build a prosperous future.
It’s time for Congress to make the long-overdue changes that create an economy that works for everyone, not just the rich and corporations.
Lorraine Tuliano is retired from the Navy. She is the former president of the Central Florida AFL-CIO.
