Tax Justice

Taxes are fundamental to our shared federal budget--a moral document that reflects our nation’s priorities. We must prioritize people and families living in poverty, or with low-paying wages, over tax breaks for the wealthy

Our Position

Economic security is a freedom all of us should enjoy, not just the wealthy corporations, donors, and individuals that benefit from outsized tax breaks and advantages. Poverty is an immoral policy choice! We must eliminate loopholes and subsidies that drain the U.S. Treasury, and prioritize the wants of the wealthy over the needs of the rest of us. Middle- and working- class workers must receive their fair share of advantages in our tax code to ensure that fewer of our neighbors struggle to make ends meet. And when the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes on the wealth they generate, our country will have a robust safety net to meet the needs of the most vulnerable.

Issues

NETWORK Advocates for Federal Policies That:

Tax earners and workers equitably, without outsized benefits for the wealthy

The U.S. tax code favors the rich with breaks and benefits that rise with an individual’s income and assets at the expense of wage earners.

The 2017 Trump Administration bill further widened the divide between the classes by slashing corporate tax rates from 35% to 21%, granting individual taxpayers with incomes over $4 million peryear with an annual $175,000 tax cut, and increased the federal deficit by $2.7 trillion. There was no tax relief for middle-class and lower-wage workers.

Recognize the average worker is as valuable as CEOs and wealthy investors

Ensure that the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes, including supporting a billionaire’s tax

Ease the economic burden on low- and middle-income families

The expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) in 2021 proved to do just this. The House passed a bi-partisan CTC expansion in the winter of 2024—that the Senate failed to pass in summer 2024. The American Rescue Plan’s expanded CTC finally gave access to the families who struggle to care for their kids the most, low-wage earners, increased benefit levels, and paid benefits in monthly installments.

Permanently expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to ensure its availability to all low-wage workers, including childless workers, especially workers who are 65 or older and young adults under age 25 who struggle to meet ends meet.

Passes a wealth tax on the inherited and accumulated assets of the ultra-rich.

How You Can Help

Write a letter to the editor of your community publication letting people know what the Senate did to help children—nothing!

Our Wins

During the pandemic, NETWORK Sisters, advocates, and supporters helped pass the America Rescue Plan (ARP). Data shows the powerful antipoverty effects of the ARP’s expanded Child Tax Credit:

The 2021 expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) led to a historic reduction in poverty in the United States, particularly for children. Research showed that child poverty fell immediately and substantially. On an annual basis, according to the US Census Bureau, child poverty fell to its lowest level on record in 2021: 5.2% (Creamer et al. 2022). Moreover, the CTC benefit’s monthly delivery likely reduced volatility in income and poverty; research has shown that volatility compromises family and child well-being (Hamilton et al. 2022). Brookings

Also during the pandemic, NETWORK justice-seekers’ advocacy (lobby visits, action alert texts and emails, petitions, and letters to the editor) and other supports helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The IRA made some progress in bringing tax justice to hardworking Americans:

Established a 15% minimum corporate tax
Curbed the carried interest loophole
A 1% excise tax on stock buybacks
Protected families making less than $400,000, and small businesses, from new taxes.

The Inflation Reduction Act also included long-overdue funding increases to the IRS that increased enforcement on wealthy tax evaders and improved services for ordinary taxpayers.

The Biden Administration launched a free-file tax return filing system to streamline tax filing for nearly all taxpayers and help low-income individuals access the tax credits benefits they aren’t always aware of.