Chuck Collins
Chuck Collins is a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies where he co-edits Inequality.org, and is author of the new book, Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good. He is cofounder of Wealth for the Common Good, recently merged with the Patriotic Millionaires. He is co-author of 99 to 1: The Moral Measure of the Economy and, with Bill Gates Sr., of Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes.
Articles by this author
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Views Wednesday, September 04, 2019 Tax the Rich Before the Rest Presidential candidates should take a pledge: The middle class should not pay one dollar more in new taxes until the super-rich pay their fair share. Already candidates are outlining ambitious programs to improve health care, combat climate change, and address the opioid crisis — and trying to... Read more |
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Views Monday, July 01, 2019 Bernie Sanders Is Right: 3 Billionaires Really Do Have More Wealth Than Half of America The wealthiest 3 billionaires in the U.S. – Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett — now have as much wealth as the bottom half of the U.S. population combined. Those were the first words spoken at last week’s 2020 Democratic Debate, citing a wealth inequality study by the Institute for Policy... Read more |
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Views Tuesday, June 04, 2019 Business School Graduates—Don’t Work for Billionaires Congratulations, graduates, on your hard work over the last several years. By now, though, you’re surely feeling pressure about your next steps. You may have debt, parents that made big sacrifices, or well-off families that expect you to live like them. You may feel pressure to take a job that... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, April 03, 2019 A Cure for Excessive Wealth Disorder The U.S. is suffering from excessive wealth disorder. This isn’t your parents’ inequality influenza, but a more virulent strain of extreme disparities of income, wealth, and opportunity. Just 400 billionaires have as much wealth as nearly two-thirds of American households combined. And just three... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, March 13, 2019 Bring Back Eisenhower Socialism Beware of the specter of socialism! Anytime a politician proposes a wildly popular idea that helps ordinary people, a few grumpy conservatives will call them “socialists.” Propose to reduce college debt, help sick families, or ensure the super-rich pay their fair share of taxes — suddenly you’re a... Read more |
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Views Sunday, February 24, 2019 What States Can Do to Reduce Poverty and Inequality Through Tax Policy States have an opportunity to act to close the loopholes that hide and protect the wealth of the top 1%, remedy the impact of the new federal tax law that lowers taxes on the wealthy, and make critical investments in infrastructure, energy systems, and programs that create broader opportunity and... Read more |
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Views Saturday, February 02, 2019 A Wealth Tax Could Raise Trillions — and Save Our Democracy Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has jolted the body politic with a bold proposal to tax the concentrated wealth of the richest 75,000 households in the United States. It’s about time someone took up this mantle. Warren’s proposal would levy an annual 2 percent tax on wealth over $50 million, with... Read more |
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Views Thursday, January 31, 2019 Bernie's Plutocracy Prevention Act The Republicans can’t control their baser greed impulse, as revealed in their latest move to abolish the federal estate tax, our nation’s only levy on the inherited wealth of the super-rich. But what we really need is a bold intervention to break up growing dynasties of wealth and power. Congress... Read more |
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Views Monday, January 21, 2019 An MLK Day Reflection: The Racial Wealth Gap Is Killing the Middle Class Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have been 90 on January 15, so it's time for a progress report. Fifty years after co-founding the Poor People’s Campaign, a multiracial campaign for economic justice, the state of King's dream of racial equity and freedom from poverty is far from attained. On the... Read more |
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Views Wednesday, January 16, 2019 The Government Shutdown Expands the Ranks of ‘Underwater Nation’ As the government shutdown drags on, the image of federal workers lining up at food pantries has dramatized just how many workers live financially close to the edge. By one estimate , almost 80 percent of U.S. workers live paycheck to paycheck. Miss one check and you’re taking a second look at what... Read more |