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americans for tax fairness
Supercharged by Trump-GOP Tax Cuts, US Billionaire Wealth Surges Past $9 Trillion for First Time
"This broken political and economic system takes from the vast majority of Americans and consolidates wealth in the hands of a privileged few. It cannot stand."
Jun 16, 2026
The collective wealth of US billionaires reached a record $9.24 trillion this month—an increase of around $2.2 trillion compared to the same time last year—while millions of Americans struggled to afford groceries, healthcare, and other basic necessities as inflation driven by President Donald Trump's illegal Iran war eroded their wages.
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) published an analysis Tuesday detailing the explosion of billionaire wealth and noting that "over the last 12 months, US GDP (unadjusted for inflation) rose just 6%, meaning this wealth expansion is not trickling down to broad-based prosperity." AFT's billionaire wealth total includes the net worth of Elon Musk, who reached trillionaire status last week with the public debut of his rocket company, SpaceX.
According to AFT's analysis of Forbes data, Musk's wealth has grown by nearly 205%—roughly $863 billion—over the past year. Larry Page, the co-founder of Google, is the second-wealthiest billionaire in the US, with a net worth of roughly $301 billion—up 118% compared to last year.
In addition to the growing chasm between the richest Americans and everyone else, AFT observed that wealth is increasingly concentrated at the very top even among the wealthiest, whose fortunes are largely tied up in stock appreciation that is not taxed unless shares are sold.
"America’s 15 centi-billionaires and now one trillionaire alone make up 43% of all billionaire wealth—an astounding $4 trillion—and their wealth is growing over twice as fast as fellow billionaires in the past year," the group noted. "Just these top 16 billionaires hold more wealth today than every US billionaire combined in September of 2020, less than six years ago."
AFT attributed skyrocketing billionaire wealth in part to tax cuts that Trump and congressional Republicans showered on the ultra-wealthy in 2017 and again in 2025.
"Nearly halfway into Trump’s second administration’s second year in office, with GOP majorities in the House and Senate, the ultra-wealthy and billionaires have been rewarded with massive tax giveaways and policies funded with cuts to affordability programs that has resulted in millions losing access to healthcare and food," David Kass, ATF's executive director, said in a statement.
"This broken political and economic system takes from the vast majority of Americans and consolidates wealth in the hands of a privileged few," Kass added. "It cannot stand.”
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‘Modern-Day Royalty’: 50 Billionaire Families Have Already Pumped Over $430 Million Into Midterms
"Billionaires are on track to break their $1 billion midterm spending record," said Americans for Tax Fairness.
Mar 25, 2026
Just 50 billionaire families in the United States have already dumped more than $430 million into the 2026 midterms, with the vast majority of the money flowing to Republican candidates and right-wing organizations such as MAGA Inc.—a super PAC aligned with President Donald Trump.
The progressive advocacy group Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) released an analysis on Wednesday examining the most recent Federal Election Commission data, which underscores increasingly aggressive billionaire efforts to use their immense wealth to secure their favored political outcomes. In the 2024 federal elections, billionaires accounted for nearly 20% of all donations.
Elon Musk, the richest man in the world, tops the list of 2026 campaign spenders so far, donating roughly $71 million—including $10 million in support of a pro-Trump candidate running to succeed Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Behind Musk is businessman Jeff Yass, a relatively low-profile billionaire who has spent millions in recent years promoting school privatization. Yass has so far spent $55 million in the 2026 midterm cycle, $16 million of which went to MAGA Inc.—the largest recipient of the billionaire's donations.
Combined, the 50 top-spending billionaire families—which ATF describes as "modern-day royalty"—have poured $433 million into the 2026 midterms to date.
"Billionaires are on track to break their $1 billion midterm spending record," ATF noted on social media, referring to the 2022 midterms. "The spending is projected to grow exponentially as November approaches."
ATF published its analysis days ahead of the latest round of nationwide "No Kings" protests against the Trump administration this coming Saturday, March 28.
“The American people reject kings, political or financial,” David Kass, executive director of ATF, said in a statement on Wednesday. “Whether it’s an out-of-control chief executive in the White House or a billionaire wielding his huge fortune to influence elections, anti-democratic behavior is anathema to the American public."
"As we approach the 250th anniversary of our independence from the British monarchy," Kass added, "it’s more important than ever that we reform our campaign-finance and tax laws so that no billionaire can purchase a crown.”
ATF found that nearly 80% of top billionaire families' 2026 midterm spending—$344.3 million of the $433 million total—has gone to Republicans and GOP organizations, with the pro-Trump MAGA Inc. super PAC receiving $89 million, far more than any other group.
Four of the top five recipients of midterm cash from the nation's richest billionaire are pro-Republican PACs.
"Republicans and conservatives receive the lion’s share of billionaire financial support because it is the nation’s right-wing that works to ensure the wealthiest families get to keep and expand their fortunes, such as through the GOP tax-and-spending law enacted last year," ATF noted.
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From Amazon to Home Depot and Beyond, Mass Layoffs Continue to Punish Working Class Under Trump
"When taking into account predicted downward revisions, the data says we’re losing jobs," said one economic analyst.
Jan 29, 2026
Although President Donald Trump has given himself glowing marks for his economic record, the US job market has continued showing signs of weakness amid recent layoffs from some major employers.
The Associated Press on Thursday published a roundup of corporate layoffs that have been announced in recent months, highlighted by Amazon, which announced it was cutting an additional 16,000 jobs on Wednesday; United Parcel Service, which on Tuesday revealed plans to slash 30,000 jobs; and chemical maker Dow, which on Thursday said it would be reducing its workforce by 3,000.
And as reported by CNBC, retailer Home Depot announced on Wednesday that it was eliminating 800 positions as it struggles with slower sales that company executives blame on a dampened housing market caused by high interest rates.
The latest layoffs are not merely anecdotal data, but symbolic of a labor market that has been stuck in a rut for several months. As noted by economic analyst Steve Rattner in a Thursday social media post, average monthly employment growth has been "slightly above zero" ever since Trump first announced his market-shaking tariffs in April.
"When taking into account predicted downward revisions," Rattner added, "the data says we’re losing jobs."
This week's announced Amazon layoffs drew the ire of Americans for Tax Fairness, which pointed out that the Jeff Bezos-founded online retail giant has been the beneficiary of several big-ticket tax breaks for more the last several years.
"We've given Amazon $9.5 BILLION in tax breaks over the last 7 years," the group explained. "And for what? Their CEO made $263 million from 2018-2024. Since 2013, they've spent $857 million on stock buybacks and $161 million on lobbying. And they just announced they're laying off 16,000 workers."
The Washington Post, which is owned by Bezos, is reportedly bracing for layoffs of its own.
A Thursday report from Semafor revealed that the Post's White House reporters wrote a letter to Bezos imploring him to back off a plan to make substantial cuts throughout the paper's staff.
"The effort from the Washington Post’s White House reporters comes as staffers are scrambling to preserve their jobs, with layoffs set to hit the newsroom hard in the coming weeks," Semafor reported. "Unconfirmed rumors have circulated in recent days about the scope of the cuts, which are expected to be as high as 300."
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5 Top ICE 'Corporate Collaborators' Saved $19 Billion in Taxes Under Trump: Report
"While masked officers terrorize communities—smashing into cars, harassing citizens, and inflicting violence with impunity—Trump’s corporate backers are laughing their way to the bank."
Jan 21, 2026
A campaign launched Wednesday by an economic justice coalition highlights how five major US corporations saved a collective $19 billion in annual tax cuts under President Donald Trump, while also aiding in his Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations.
Americans for Tax Fairness' (ATF) "ICE Corporate Collaborators: Exposed" campaign details how five corporations that "received massive tax breaks paid for by healthcare cuts" under Republicans' so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) are now "making money through contracts to help the Trump administration terrorize communities" as part of the president's deadly anti-immigrant purge.
“Today we launched our corporate accountability campaign to give citizens the information they need to hold giant corporations accountable for their complicity in the Trump administration’s mass deportation policies," ATF executive director David Kass said in a statement.
The report notes that five companies—Amazon, AT&T, Home Depot, Microsoft, and Palantir—"helped ICE track, detain, and deport families" while they saved a total of $19 billion in annual corporate taxes under the OBBBA, and their CEOs "collectively received an estimated $124 million in personal tax giveaways."
NEW: Our research is exposing the corporations that received massive tax breaks from the Trump administration—and are now collaborating with ICE.Billions of dollars are going into the corporate deportation machine.Is this really the America we want?americansfortaxfairness.org/ices-corpora...
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— Americans for Tax Fairness (@4taxfairness.bsky.social) January 21, 2026 at 11:49 AM
Amazon's cloud computing services, the authors wrote, "have become vital to ICE's crackdown on immigrants, with their data storage being used for mass surveillance and deportation."
AT&T, which received $382 million in Department of Homeland Security contracts between 2022-24, "serves as the digital backbone for Trump’s deportation machine."
Home Depot "has appeared to be collaborating with Trump’s ICE mass immigration sweeps on their property, putting thousands of customers and employees' safety at risk."
Microsoft—which gave the Trump Inaugural Committee $750,000 in 2024—has received at least $45 million in homeland security-related contracts in recent years.
Palantir has partnered with ICE to use the company's artificial intelligence system to identify, track, and deport suspected undocumented immigrants—and is reportedly helping the government build a database of Americans’ private information in likely violation of multiple laws.
These and other companies have been the target of protests and boycott campaigns. These can work—Spotify stopped running ICE recruitment ads and Avelo Airlines ended its contract for deportation flights amid public pressure.
ATF estimates that Palantir CEO Alex Karp—who "received an estimated cumulative ordinary income of $3.3 billion from 2019 through 2024"—personally saved an estimated $85.7 thanks to the OBBBA's tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
Karp is followed by Microsoft's Satya Nadella ($25.4 million in estimated tax savings), Amazon's Andy Jassy ($6.9 million), AT&T's John Stankey ($3.2 million), and Home Depot's Edward Decker ($2.9 million).
"While masked officers terrorize communities—smashing into cars, harassing citizens, and inflicting violence with impunity—Trump’s corporate backers are laughing their way to the bank,” Kass said.
"As Trump and his billionaire-backed GOP majority cut billions in healthcare, Medicaid, and SNAP benefits, Americans face steep hikes in the cost of living to pay for tax giveaways to large multinational corporations and the billionaires that run them," he added. "The American people will not be silent.”
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Billionaires Spend Big to Tank Mamdani, Who Vows to 'Tax the Rich' in NYC
"Zohran Mamdani is showing the way for politicians who still haven't figured out that fairer taxes on the rich and corporations are both good policy and good politics," said the head of Americans for Tax Fairness.
Oct 28, 2025
A week away from Election Day in New York City, a national economic justice group on Tuesday released a report detailing how billionaires "outraged at the prospect of the rich and corporations paying higher taxes" have spent millions of dollars to defeat Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani.
"Just 62 billionaires and descendants of billionaire families ('billionaire spenders') as of October 14th have contributed over one-third—37%, or $18.7 million—of all the donations collected by so-called outside expenditure groups involved in the race," according to the Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund (ATFAF) report, Billionaires Buying Gracie Mansion.
The publication notes that "almost all of that money has backed former New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo," who is running as an Indepedent after losing the Democratic primary to Mamdani, a democratic socialist in the state Assembly who has campaigned on promises to make the metropolis more affordable for everyday people and "tax the rich!"
Specifically, 58 of the 62 billionaire spenders gave "a total of $18.4 million to Cuomo-aligned super political action committees (super PACs), ATFAF found. "Mamdani has received the support of just two billionaire spenders, who together have contributed $270,000 to outside PACs pushing his candidacy."
The report highlights that billionaire former NYC mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg, who has a net worth of roughly $109 billion, "is leading the anti-Mamdani charge, having personally donated $8.3 million to the main super PAC backing Cuomo."
Bloomberg and the dozens of other billionaires trying to sway the race "have spent nearly twice the amount 60,000 individual contributors have made directly to the three general election candidates (including Republican Curtis Sliwa)," the document details. "This is because unlike direct donations to candidates, there is no limit on contributions to outside spending groups."
New York is not only the nation's most populous city, it's also a billionaire hotspot. The report points out that "as of October 1st, New York City is the primary residence to 111 billionaires, according to Forbes, with lots more owning second homes or business property in the Big Apple. Collectively, these 111 billionaires are worth $717 billion, over six times the city's annual budget."
While Cuomo is backed by billionaires, Mamdani is endorsed by national progressive leaders, including Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), whose district spans parts of the Bronx and Queens. The pair joined New York state leaders, including Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, for a massive Sunday night rally in support of Mamdani.
In addition to taxing corporations and the 1%, Mamdani's platform includes a rent freeze, constructing more affordable housing, city-owned grocery stores, fare-free buses, no-cost childcare, building out renewable energy on public lands, raising the minimum wage to $30 by 2030, and more.
The progressive candidate has also promised to stand up to Republican President Donald Trump, a former longtime New Yorker who has threatened to arrest Mamadani and to cut all federal funds to New York City if he is victorious next week. Recent polling suggests Mamdani is well-positioned to win the contest.
"Billionaires feel threatened by a modest proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers to help make life more affordable for ordinary city residents. That’s why they’re spending millions to drown out the effort with their money," Americans for Tax Fairness executive director David Kass said in a Tuesday statement.
"Politicians and policymakers around the country should take note of how popular a progressive tax agenda can be with Americans across the political spectrum," Kass added. "Zohran Mamdani is showing the way for politicians who still haven't figured out that fairer taxes on the rich and corporations are both good policy and good politics."
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Healthcare Giants Have Raked in 'Sick Profits' From Trump Tax Cuts While Stiffing Patients: Report
The report found that seven of America's biggest healthcare companies have collectively dodged $34 billion in taxes as a result of Trump's 2017 tax law while making patient care worse.
Sep 04, 2025
President Donald Trump's tax policies have allowed the healthcare industry to rake in "sick profits" by avoiding tens of billions of dollars in taxes and lowering the quality of care for patients, according to a report out Wednesday.
The report, by the advocacy groups Americans for Tax Fairness and Community Catalyst, found that "seven of America's biggest healthcare corporations have dodged over $34 billion in collective taxes since the enactment of the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law that Republicans recently succeeded in extending."
The study examined four health insurance companies—Centene, Cigna, Elevance (formerly Anthem), and Humana; two for-profit hospital chains—HCA Holdings and Universal Health Services; and the CVS Healthcare pharmacy conglomerate.
It found that these companies' average profits increased by 75%, from around $21 billion before the tax bill to about $35 billion afterward, and yet their federal tax rate was about the same.
This was primarily due to the 2017 law's slashing of the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, a change that was cheered on by the healthcare industry and continued with this year's GOP tax legislation. The legislation also loosened many tax loopholes and made it easier to move profits to offshore tax shelters.
The report found that Cigna, for instance, saved an estimated $181 million in taxes on the $2.5 billion it held in offshore accounts before the law took effect.
The law's supporters, including those in the healthcare industry, argued that lowering corporate taxes would allow companies to increase wages and provide better services to patients. But the report found that "healthcare corporations failed to use their tax savings to lower costs for customers or meaningfully boost worker pay."
Instead, they used those windfalls primarily to increase shareholder payouts through stock buybacks and dividends and to give fat bonuses to their top executives.
Stock buybacks increased by 42% after the law passed, with Centene purchasing an astonishing average of 20 times more of its own shares in the years following its enactment than in the years before. During the first seven years of the law, dividends for shareholders increased by 133% to an average of $5.6 billion.
Pay for the seven companies' half-dozen top executives increased by a combined $100 million, 42%, on average. This is compared to the $14,000 pay increase that the average employee at these companies received over the same period, which is a much more modest increase of 24%.
And contrary to claims that lower taxes would allow companies to improve coverage or patient care, the opposite has occurred.
While data is scarce, the rate of denied insurance claims is believed to have risen since the law went into effect.
The four major insurers' Medicare Advantage plans were found to frequently deny claims improperly. In the case of Centene, 93% of its denials for prior authorizations were overturned once patients appealed them, which indicates that they may have been improper. The others were not much better: 86% of Cigna's denials were overturned, along with 71% for Elevance/Anthem, and 65% for Humana.
The report said that such high rates of denials being overturned raise "questions about whether Medicare Advantage plans are complying with their coverage obligations or just reflexively saying 'no' in the hopes there will be no appeal."
Salespeople for the Cigna-owned company EviCore, which insurers hire to review claims, have even boasted that they help companies reduce their costs by increasing denials by 15%, part of a model that ProPublica has called the "denials for dollars business." Their investigation in 2024 found that insurers have used EviCore to evaluate whether to pay for coverage for over 100 million people.
And while paying tens of millions to their executives, both HCA and Universal Health Services—which each saved around $5.5 billion from Trump's tax law—have been repeatedly accused of overbilling patients while treating them in horrendous conditions.
"Congress should demand both more in tax revenue and better patient care from these highly profitable corporations," Americans for Tax Fairness said in a statement. "Healthcare corporation profitability should not come before quality of patient care. In healthcare, more than almost any other industry, the search for ever higher earnings threatens the wellbeing and lives of the American people."
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They Need More Tax Giveaways Why? Profits of Fortune 100 Companies Surged by $100 Billion Last Year
"All these goodies were paid for in part by denying families healthcare," said the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "The tradeoff couldn't be more clear or more cruel."
Aug 06, 2025
A report released on Monday by Americans for Tax Fairness found that the profits of America's biggest corporations surged by $100 billion last year and were roughly twice the total profits these companies reported in 2017.
The Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) report, which was based on data collected by Fortune, found that the 100 biggest companies in the U.S. recorded collective after-tax profits of $1.2 trillion during a time when American voters have consistently told pollsters they are having trouble paying for groceries.
Big tech companies led the way in terms of total profits last year, with Google parent company Alphabet raking in $100 billion in after-tax profits, followed by Apple with $94 billion in profits, Microsoft with $88 billion in profits, and Nvidia with $73 billion in profits. Holding company Berkshire Hathaway was the only non-tech firm to post such gaudy numbers, as its yearly profits in 2024 totaled $89 billion.
ATF noted that corporate America was raking in these big profits even before congressional Republicans passed their massive budget law that included even more tax cuts designed to benefit the country's largest companies.
David Kass, ATF's executive director, said the GOP's budget package looks even more extreme given what we now know about the financial health of corporate balance sheets.
"Most Americans know in their bones that huge corporations don't need any more tax cuts, but the newest data on the revenue and profits of the nation's biggest firms confirms that hunch," he said. "Among the giveaways to the rich and powerful in the recently enacted Trump-GOP tax scam are roughly $900 billion in loophole openers, ranging from accelerated depreciation to a more generous interest deduction. All these goodies were paid for in part by denying families healthcare, taking food from hungry kids, and boosting household utility prices. The tradeoff couldn't be more clear or more cruel."
ATF also contended that American workers have little to show for these corporate tax cuts, as "the nation's largest firms have spent $3.2 trillion on stock repurchases and $2.1 trillion on dividends" since the first GOP-passed corporate tax package came into law in 2017.
Polls have shown the GOP budget package, which was signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump last month, to be extremely unpopular with voters. An analysis conducted recently by data journalist G. Elliott Morris found that the budget law "is likely the most unpopular budget ever, is the second most unpopular piece of key legislation since the 1990s, and the most unpopular key law, period, over the same period."
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After Lobbying Blitz, Trump IRS Formally Kills Direct File Program That Would've Saved Americans Billions
"It was never about efficiency, it's about Trump and his billionaire allies taking money from our pockets to make the tax system worse and line the pockets of big business elites in this predatory industry," said a spokesperson at Americans for Tax Fairness.
Aug 01, 2025
In a move backed by private tax-filing corporations, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump officially announced the shut down of the government's free Direct File service this week.
For two years under the administration of former President Joe Biden, the IRS allowed taxpayers in some states to file their taxes online using public software under a pilot program.
A report published in March by the Economic Security Project found that:
At maturity in five years, Direct File would save the average user $160 in filing fees and hours of their time each year, which saves Americans a total of $11 billion annually between filing fees and time costs. By breaking down barriers to filing, Direct File would also deliver up to $12 billion each year in additional tax credits to low-income families currently missing out.
In January, the direct file system was rolled out to 30 million Americans across 25 states, to rave reviews. According to a memo circulated within the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the program was "beloved by its users," with a 94% satisfaction rate among those who used it.
But according to IRS Chairman Billy Long, who spoke at a tax summit Monday, it will not be made available again in 2026.
"You've heard of direct file, that's gone," Long gloated. "Big beautiful Billy wiped that out."
"I don't care about Direct File. I care about direct audit," he added, referring to his efforts to make it easier for businesses and individuals under tax audits to get updates on their status.
The budget legislation that Trump signed into law last month did not formally end Direct File, as Long suggested. However, it did allocate $15 million to the Treasury Department for a task force to study public-private partnership alternatives to replace Direct File. "Big beautiful Billy" likely referred to Long himself, whose IRS formally ended the program.
Long's announcement was the culmination of a months-long scheme by private tax-filing corporations like Intuit and H&R Block, and Republicans in government to kill Direct File.
As early as December, following Trump's reelection victory, GOP congresspeople began calling for the program's demise. Twenty-nine of them, who'd accepted a combined $1.8 million in campaign donations from the tax prep industry over their careers, signed onto a letter written by Reps. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) and Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) calling on Trump to issue a "day-one executive order" killing the program.
Long, himself a former congressman from Missouri, raised eyebrows in January 2025, shortly after he was named as Trump's nominee to lead the IRS. According to The Lever, he received a curious $137,000 worth of donations that he then used to pay himself back for a $130,000 loan he'd made to his failed 2022 campaign for the Senate. Around a third of the money came from tax consultancy firms.
In March, following mass layoffs at the IRS by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), staff working on the Direct File system were told to halt their work. Prior to that, Musk wrote on his social media app X that he had "deleted" 18F, the government agency working on the project.
Right after tax day in April, The Associated Press first reported that the administration was planning to end the program.
While consumer advocacy groups called the change a "big loss" for the public, the American Coalition for Taxpayer Rights, an astroturf group backed by tax-filing companies, thanked Smith, Edwards, and other GOP congresspeople "for their leadership" calling for the termination of the program.
The program was effectively dead for months, but Long's gleeful coroner's report this week made it official.
"Last year, Direct File saved taxpayers $5.6 million in tax preparation costs by allowing people to file their taxes for FREE," wrote Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) Friday on X. "That's why tax preparation companies like... Intuit lobbied to get rid of it. Trump just gave them their wish."
Despite claims by GOP congresspeople that the program was "wasteful," it actually saved taxpayers much more money than it cost. According to the Economic Security Project's study, "For every dollar invested in the program, Direct File delivers $106 in benefits to American taxpayers, between savings on tax preparation fees and access to untapped tax credits."
"This move exposes what's really happening in Trump's administration," said David Kass, the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. "It was never about efficiency, it's about Trump and his billionaire allies taking money from our pockets to make the tax system worse and line the pockets of big business elites in this predatory industry."
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'Open Season for Wealthy Tax Cheats' as Republicans Confirm Trump IRS Pick Billy Long
The top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee said Long is "knee-deep in tax scams, corruption and cover-ups."
Jun 12, 2025
The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate voted Thursday to confirm scandal-plagued Billy Long to serve as head of the Internal Revenue Service, an agency that he sought to abolish during his tenure in Congress.
Every Republican senator voted in favor of confirming President Donald Trump's IRS commissioner pick in the face of revelations that he was closely involved in promoting a fraud-riddled tax credit and allegations that he could be implicated in two separate bribery schemes.
In a floor speech ahead of Thursday's vote, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said that Long is "knee-deep in tax scams, corruption, and cover-ups" that should disqualify him from leading the IRS.
Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee, pointed to a letter he sent earlier this week to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles detailing his concerns about the FBI's apparently lax background check on Long.
"Publicly available information raises very troubling questions of personal wrongdoing that merit serious and thorough investigation," Wyden wrote. "According to court documents, Mr. Long is implicated in a bribery conspiracy involving a healthcare company located in his Missouri district while he was a member of Congress. The case resulted in convictions and guilty pleas of more than a dozen people, including elected officials, businessmen, and lobbyists."
Democratic lawmakers also raised alarm over "unusually timed" donations that seven companies made to Long's defunct 2022 Senate campaign committee following news that he was nominated to lead the IRS.
"This ought to be an easy no," Wyden said Thursday. "It's one corruption bombshell after another with former Congressman Billy Long."
"Billy Long has a clear history of working to make it easier for corporations and the wealthy to skirt paying their fair share of taxes."
While representing Missouri's 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House, Long co-sponsored legislation that proposed eliminating the IRS, repealing the federal income tax, and putting in place a regressive national sales tax.
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF), a progressive advocacy group, said Thursday that Long's confirmation "signals open season for wealthy tax cheats."
"Trump and Senate Republicans finally delivered a long-awaited return on investment to the billionaire backers that fund their party: an IRS chief with extreme views on tax policy and no interest in reining in wealthy tax cheats or helping working families," ATF executive director David Kass said in a statement. "With Long at the helm, it becomes even more critical to stop Trump's disastrous tax bill that cuts critical programs Americans depend on, like Medicaid and SNAP, to fund massive tax giveaways for billionaires."
Lisa Gilbert, co-president of Public Citizen, similarly warned that "tax cheats just received a huge gift."
"Billy Long has a clear history of working to make it easier for corporations and the wealthy to skirt paying their fair share of taxes," said Gilbert. "He has even supported abolishing the very agency he has now been tasked to lead—the agency meant to take the lead in cracking down on tax evasion and ensuring that government is sufficiently resourced to serve the public interest."
" Wall Street may celebrate his confirmation as IRS commissioner," Gilbert added, "but it is bad news for everyday people."
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Trump-GOP Tax Bill a Gift to 'Predatory Landlords' That Will Worsen Already Dire Housing Crisis
"Housing programs are among the important public services being targeted for significant cuts to fund tax giveaways for billionaires and their wealthy donors," warned one group.
May 15, 2025
House Republicans' proposed budget reconciliation package will make mortgages expensive and harder to obtain, a progressive tax policy group warned Thursday, while over 30 advocacy groups sounded the alarm over the Trump administration's gutting of federal agencies and programs, moves that are exacerbating the U.S. housing crisis.
Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) said that the proposed permanent extension of expiring portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) signed into law by President Donald Trump during his first term would grant massive tax breaks to big corporations and the ultrawealthy, "wasting trillions of dollars that could help solve our country's affordable housing crisis."
"The deficit-financed tax cuts would also increase interest rates, making housing less affordable," ATF added. "To the extent the tax cuts are not added to the deficit, housing programs are among the important public services being targeted for significant cuts to fund tax giveaways for billionaires and their wealthy donors."
"They are paving the way for more predatory landlords to jack up rent."
ATF's assertion is supported by a report published in February by the Economic Policy Institute finding that "large, deficit-financed tax cuts would put upward pressure on inflation and interest rates, slowing growth and causing pain to households," including by making borrowing for a home more expensive.
ATF noted that extending the TCJA's weakened low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) could result in 235,000 fewer affordable housing units over 10 years.
"Trump's tax scam reduced the financial incentive for corporations—the largest LIHTC investors—to make equity investments in the tax credits by slashing the corporate tax rate to 21%, and adopting a stingier measure of inflation," the group said.
"One of the most regressive provisions in the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law is the so-called 'opportunity zone' tax break," ATF contended. "While proponents claimed it would encourage investment in low-income neighborhoods, it has instead been ruthlessly exploited by wealthy real estate investors."
"In fact, this program has failed to deliver the promised economic opportunity to underserved communities, instead turning many of these neighborhoods into what can more accurately be described as exploitation zones," the group added.
The Lever's Luke Goldstein and Katya Schwenk reported Tuesday that the reconciliation package's proposed restrictions on state governments passing new regulations on artificial intelligence technology "could kill crackdowns on real estate management company RealPage for raising rents and contributing to the country's housing crisis."
RealPage is accused of price gouging renters via AI-powered surveillance pricing and automated insurance denials and management systems.
"Not only are House Republicans giving their billionaire donors and large corporations a massive tax handout, they are giving RealPage and bad actors like them a free pass to rip off working families," Lindsay Owens, executive director of the economic justice group Groundwork Collaborative, said Wednesday.
"They are paving the way for more predatory landlords to jack up rent, more apps to drive down gig worker wages, and more retailers to hike prices on consumers," Owens added. "The GOP tax bill tells you everything you need to know about the Republican Party's priorities and how unserious they are about lowering costs for working families."
More than a dozen states have joined a class action lawsuit accusing RealPage of using AI to artificially inflate housing prices across the nation.
Also on Thursday, more than 30 housing, consumer, and civil rights groups warned that the Trump administration's deep cuts to federal agencies and programs—spearheaded by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency—"are worsening the nation's housing crisis."
"Our families, neighbors, and communities deserve better than these untenable and unconscionable proposals."
"The Trump administration promised to address the high cost of housing, but so far has proposed policies that will increase the cost of rent, shred the nation's housing safety net, and push more people into homelessness," National Low Income Housing Coalition interim president and CEO Renee Willis said in a statement.
"At a time when more people than ever are struggling to afford the cost of rent and a record number of people are experiencing homelessness, rolling back fair housing protections and cutting funding for rental assistance, homelessness services, and affordable housing development—and gutting the workforce responsible for administering these programs—will only create more hardship," Willis added. "Our families, neighbors, and communities deserve better than these untenable and unconscionable proposals."
In a wider critique of Trump's policy proposals, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said Thursday on social media: "Wages are stagnant. Housing costs are soaring."
"Many young people will never be able to afford their own homes, but Trump wants to increase the bloated military budget by $150 billion," Sanders added. "WRONG. That money should go toward building the affordable housing that we desperately need."
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