America has oligarchs too. They’re called billionaires.

Democracy Labs

4 years ago

America has oligarchs too. They’re called billionaires.

Oligarchs are very wealthy businessmen with a lot of political influence.

American oligarchs (billionaires) dodge paying their fair share of taxes. This reduces funding for Child Tax Credits that help regular Americans feed their children. Republicans create tax loopholes for their billionaire donors. Check this map for:

Number of kids in poverty by county
Billionaire wealth
Senators for that state and how to contact them

3,700,000 children fall into poverty

“As a result of the decision to let the expanded child tax credit expire in December, 3.7 million children fell into poverty, according to a study by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy. The child poverty rate increased from “12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17 percent in January 2022” — a 41% increase.

The monthly payments, which have now stopped, were spent “on basic household needs and children’s essentials: the most common item is food.” The payments were effective in meaningfully reducing “family food insufficiency, particularly among children in families with low and moderate incomes.” After the July payment alone, “food insufficiency rates among families with children dropped by 24 percent.” After two months of payments, “2 million fewer adults report[ed] that their children, specifically, did not have enough to eat.” – Popular Information

Billionaire Income Tax

The Billionaires Income Tax would apply to taxpayers with more than $1 billion in assets or more than $100 million in income for three consecutive years. It ensures billionaires pay tax every year just like working Americans. – Senator Ron Wyden

“For too long billionaires have played by a different set of rules that allow them cheat the system and pay nothing in taxes. Congress now has the historic opportunity to fix that,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren. “The Billionaires Income Tax is an important step to crack down on tax avoidance schemes and loopholes to ensure the richest Americans pay what they owe. It’s time to build a fairer tax system.”

How this infographic and GIFs were created

This infographic was created with ArcGIS dashboards using data from Living Atlas and Popular Info
The GIFs were created by uploading images into the free iMovie app and overlaying them with captions.
The movie was then converted into a GIF and inserted in the dashboard.

Republicans protect their oligarch donors

“ProPublica revealed that American billionaires essentially do not pay taxes. By the weekend, demands for justice on behalf of America’s parasite oligarchs had unified the Republican party like nothing since perhaps the phrase “public option” was a thing you heard on cable television. Politicians from Susan Collins to the author of the infamous North Carolina “bathroom bill” both grilled law enforcement officials testifying in their committees about the website’s “illegal” violations of mega-billionaire privacy.” – The Guardian

Jeff Bezos claimed a $4,000 tax credit for his children in 2011.
Warren Buffett, who has called for tougher tax rules for the wealthy, paid under $24 million in taxes between 2014 and 2018.
Mike Bloomberg paid $70.7 million in income tax in 2018, despite reporting $1.9 billion in net income, after claiming deductions, charitable donations and foreign tax offsets.
Carl Icahn and Elon Musk took advantage of rules regarding debt. Icahn deducted interest payments on his companies’ debt, helping him pay no federal income tax in 2016 and 2017. Musk regularly borrows tens of billions against his stock holdings: those loans aren’t taxed, and the interest paid can often be deducted. (He paid no federal income tax in 2018.)
(Source: ProPublica)