Mainers for Tax Fairness 4/15 Day of Action Spotlights Jaw-Dropping Wealth Gap Through Virtual Exhibits
On April 15, Tax Day, the Mainers for Tax Fairness (MFTF) coalition raised awareness that America’s runaway wealth inequality is the predictable result of a tax system rigged to protect the ultra-wealthy while leaving working families behind. Maine’s tax code has long been upside down, with middle-income families paying a higher effective tax rate than the wealthiest 1 percent, but Maine’s new millionaire tax begins to fix that and will generate hundreds of millions of dollars for workers, families, and students.
“For too long, corporate lobbyists and their allies in Congress have rigged our economy with a tax system that favors billionaires and shareholders over working-class people who get up every morning to go to work,” said Cynthia Phinney, President of the Maine AFL-CIO. As a result, we have a government that is totally captured by the super wealthy and corporations, leaving crumbs for the rest of us. There is absolutely no justifiable reason why a nurse or a firefighter should pay a higher tax rate than Elon Musk. The eye-popping concentration of wealth and power created by our unjust tax system is not only destroying the American Dream, but it is threatening our very democracy. Working people are fed up and will make our voices heard at the ballot box this November.”
As a result of our backwards tax system and the weakened bargaining power of workers:
CEOs at the largest U.S. companies were paid an average of $22.98 million in 2024 — 281 times as much as a typical worker. In 1965, the ratio was 21-to-1. Since 1978, CEO pay has risen 1,094%, while typical worker pay has grown only 26%. Source
The bottom 50% of Americans own less than 3% of the nation’s wealth. The top 1% owns about 32% of the wealth — a record high. Source
Over the last 30 years, the net worth of the wealthiest 1% grew by well over $25 trillion while the net worth of the bottom 50% dropped by $900 billion. As of 2024-25 the top 1% collectively hold about $55 trillion in wealth — roughly equal to that of the bottom 90% combined. Source
In 2025 billionaire wealth increased 3 times faster than the average annual rate over the last 5 years. Source
The US loses about $688 billion in unpaid taxes every year. $688 billion a year could fund: universal child care ($200-300B), paid family and medical leave ($20-40B), free public college ($80-120B), a permanent child tax credit ($120B), and climate proof our communities ($100B) — all without raising taxes on working people.
“One Big Beautiful Bill” Act makes wealth and income inequality much worsL
HR1 will cost more than $4 trillion over the next decade. The bulk of that expense comes from $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy. The highest-income 20% of American households will receive 70% of the tax cuts in 2026, and the top 1% — those with incomes of roughly a million dollars or more — will receive $1 trillion over the next decade.
The combination of tax and service cuts plus President Trump’s tariffs will saddle the lowest-income 80% of Americans — four out of five people — with an average of $793 in higher costs this year, while the highest-income 1% will each enjoy on average a cumulative savings of $8,850.