Calculating Our “Fair Share”
An Economy of Our Own’s monthly Insider Update includes updates, events, resources, and other valuable tools for learning about and advancing feminist economic ideas. Sign up to receive the newsletter here.
I’m feeling a bit more hopeful, having watched the state of the union address, and then afterward having learned 32 million Americans had tuned in. True, this compares with the 123 million who watched the Super Bowl. But this seems a year to hope more of us will pay closer attention to the fine print of policy matters, and then turn out to vote.
Given Tax Day is around the corner, I took special note of a presidential demand for the wealthy to pay their fair share. I heard Joe Biden refer to Warren Buffet’s suggested “minimum tax” for corporations and billionaires. It’s a good idea. Too many accountants and tax lawyers are willing to help the wealthiest Americans get out of paying anything at all to their government. Evading taxes has become a valorized virtue.
In 2020, a recent report from ITEP, the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy revealed, 55 corporations that reportedly generated $122 billion in profits, paid zero in taxes — or even got a refund from the IRS. An additional 73 hugely profitable corporations paid an effective federal income tax rate of just 5.3 percent on their profits. You’d recognize their names. Among them were T-Mobile, Amazon, Bank of America, Deere, Domino’s Pizza, Etsy, General Motors, Netflix, Nike, Verizon and Walt Disney.
Thirty-nine of those 55 companies ITEP named paid nothing at all over three years. Low-or-no-pay is not occasional, it’s usual and still widespread, as their latest study shows. As ITEP puts it: “The tax avoidance illustrated in this analysis is mainly the result of provisions enacted by Congress.”
“Fair share” reminds me of what Syracuse University discovered when they investigated IRS audits. Their court-ordered access to IRS internal reports came only after successful litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. The IRS is now depending on automated letters asking for more documentation, rather than the expense of face-to-face agents. In 2012, IRS Revenue Agents audited 40,965 millionaires, compared to 2022, when only 7,710 US millionaires were audited — and not by IRS agents, but by automated correspondence or tax auditors.
The Syracuse report adds: “The taxpayer class with unbelievably high audit rates — five and a half times virtually everyone else — were low-income wage earners taking the earned income tax credit.” If you’ve ever tried to get a question answered on the IRS helpline and been on hold for more than a maddening hour, you’re already aware the IRS lacks resources to help taxpayers. But why make low-income wage earners an easy mark for IRS correspondence audits, while the biggest remain out of bounds?
Fixing this will take more than a presidential speech, and more than our angry shouts. An Economy of Our Own gathers experts to share the personal details of an increasingly dysfunctional financial power, and importantly, real solutions. It will take our united attention to devilish details to make the many changes needed. A minimum tax for the wealthiest seems a good place to start!
In solidarity,
Rickey Gard Diamond,
AEOO Founder
Updates from the Alliance
The Whiteness of Wealth. Thanks to AEOO advisory board member Katonya Hart for recommending our latest read: The Whiteness of Wealth: How the Tax System Impoverishes Black Americans — and How We Can Fix It, a book by Dorothy A. Brown, a professor at Georgetown Law.
Professor Brown became a tax lawyer to get away from race. She thought tax law was about numbers, and the only color that mattered was green. But her research into tax law revealed it wasn’t as color-blind as she’d once believed. She introduces us to families across the economic spectrum whose stories demonstrate how American tax law rewards the preferences and practices of white people while pushing black people further behind.
For a shorter take on this important subject, Dorothy A. Brown did a great interview with Michel Martin on Amanpour & Co.
Climate Action Beyond Capitalism. AEOO advisory board member Georgia Kelly will interview Aviva Chomsky, author of Is Science Enough? Forty Different Questions on Climate Justice, on April 5 via Zoom. Chomsky examines the big picture in dealing with the challenges of the climate crisis and calls out the techno-optimists who believe that our basic economic model can solve the climate problems. Together, they will discuss a just transition, degrowth of production and consumption, and new solutions beyond capitalism. Tickets are $20. Register here.
Mayday for Money
An Economy of Our Own is proud to stand with other organizational sponsors of Mayday For Money.
We all need money to survive in modern society, yet few of us know who creates our money and how it is created. Most of our money is created out of thin air by private banks as debt when they loan it to us and charge us interest for their privilege. It doesn’t have to be this way.
May 18th is the 110th anniversary of the Federal Reserve Banks and of Congress ceding the power to create money to commercial banks. In 2024, we change the narrative of money back to a focus on people and our planetary and societal needs.
We invite you to join us in Chicago on Saturday, May 18th, 2024, for “Mayday for Money!” We’ll begin gathering at 11:30am at the Calder Flamingo Statue and march at 12pm to the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Related outreach, educational, and social activities will go on May 17–19 for all available.
Exposing Private Equity
Modern-Day Piratism. If you’ve ever wondered whatever happened to iconic U.S. businesses like Sears and Friendly’s Ice Cream, Samsonite Luggage and Zales’ Jewelry, or even Toys-R-Us, you may want to learn more about Private Equity, a largely secret and little understood 40-year-long hit-and-run scam.
In AEOO Founder Rickey Gard Diamond’s latest column for Ms., she explains how private equity firms profit off the backs of working women and families. Read more here.
Inside the Secret Plunder. Private Equity is another nice-sounding phrase to disguise a few pale males, who are strip-mining US businesses, loading up company debt, while eliminating jobs and services. In our latest Zoom of Our Own conversation, we talked with Aliya Sabharwal, who spotlights Private Equity at the educational nonprofit network, Americans for Financial Reform, and Jess Newman of United for Respect, a multiracial movement working to hold Wall Street accountable for what they more accurately name Private Piracy. AEOO Digital Director Carmen Rios moderated the conversation. RSVP here.
Fuel Our Work in the Year Ahead
Like you, we’re looking at our budget and building a future — and we’ll only be able to expand our woman-friendly resources with your help.
Most of our alliance work is done by professionals providing pro-bono services, as advisors and including those experts who join our Zoom of Our Own conversations. We value their generosity, stretching our tiny budget. But this isn’t a sustainable model, and changing the economy’s purpose is a long-term project.
While times are tough, especially for those of us who most need a change in economic purpose, building for the future isn’t as impossible as it may first appear. To support feminist solutions, join our Giving Circle today. You can be sure penny-wise women will use it for the long-term!
