The post New: Billionaires in Epstein’s Network Spent $1.5 Billion to Influence Federal Elections Since Citizens United Ruling appeared first on Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund.

Convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein has been dead for nearly 6 years, but his close friends and associates still loom like a specter over our nation’s political institutions. Since the (partial) release of the Epstein Files by the Department of Justice, the American people have learned more about the extraordinary breadth of Jeffrey Epstein’s social and financial circle, which included some of the world’s most powerful people. Yet despite enormous evidence of a vast child sex trafficking ring, only one individual—Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s long time co-conspirator—has been prosecuted for the trafficking upwards of 1,000 young women and girls over several decades. 

The nation’s political, economic, and judicial systems have failed to deliver justice for the victims. Yet, in this current election cycle and in cycles reaching decades into the past, more than $1.57 billion of political spending came from more than 40 billionaires with credible documented ties to Jeffrey Epstein, based on Federal Election Commission and Department of Justice files analyzed by Americans for Tax Fairness. This amount covers a period from the Supreme Court’s disastrous Citizens United ruling in 2010, that allowed for unlimited political spending by these Epstein billionaires, to May 15th 2026. 

While the number of billionaires connected to Jeffrey Epstein is split fairly evenly between self-identified Democrats and Republicans, their political spending clearly skews hard toward Republicans. We estimate that over $1.3 billion (84%) of their collective political spending has gone to Republicans or conservative activism, while roughly $105 million (7%) has supported Democrats and liberal causes. The remaining political spending has gone to Political Action Committees (PACs) that back both Democrats and Republicans on specific issues, predominantly directed to candidates that are pro-AI, pro-crypto, or pro-Israel. 

This political spending represents pocket change for these billionaire Epstein associates who hold $1.7 trillion of wealth combined and had benefitted from the last two major tax laws driven by President Trump and Congressional Republicans. The tremendous financial influence this small clique holds over our elections and political system represents just 0.09% of their total wealth. 

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Today, a week before election day for New York City’s next mayor, Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund (ATFAF) released a report showing 62 billionaires and billionaire descendants had supplied over one-third (37%, or $18.7 million) of all the outside spending in the race–and almost every dollar has been used against Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani has said he doesn’t believe billionaires should exist and has proposed raising individual and corporate taxes on the city’s richest residents. The roughly five dozen billionaires have pumped more cash into the election through super PACs than have the 60,000 small-dollar donors who’ve given directly to the candidates’ campaigns. Former mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg had as of Oct. 14 contributed by far the most to the anti-Mamdani push, $8.3 million; he was trailed by the family of cosmetics queen Estee Lauder (the family collectively has given $2.6 million); hedge fund manager Bill Ackman ($1.5 million); and oil tycoon John Hess ($1 million).

“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,” said David Kass, ATF’s executive director. “Politicians and policymakers around the country should take note of how popular a progressive tax agenda can be with Americans across the political spectrum. 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.”

The post BILLIONAIRES SPEND $19M TO STOP MAMDANI TAX REFORMS appeared first on Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund.

Read the full report

SUMMARY

Outraged at the prospect of the rich and corporations paying higher taxes, billionaire spenders are pouring tens of millions of dollars into this year’s New York City mayoral contest to try to stop a front runner with a progressive tax-reform agenda. According to an analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness, 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.

Almost all of that money has backed former New York state governor Andrew Cuomo, the closest challenger to state assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, who has proposed higher city taxes on individual incomes over a million dollars and on corporations. Former mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg is leading the billionaire charge, having personally contributed $8.3 million to the main political action committee trying to block Mamdani from taking up the mayoral residence in Gracie Mansion.

KEY FINDINGS

• Just 62 billionaires and individuals descended from billionaire families (“billionaire spenders”) have supplied over one-third (37%, or $18.7 million) of all the outside spending on the New York City mayor’s race as of October 14th.
• Almost all the billionaire cash is backing independent candidate Andrew Cuomo (98%), with 58 of the 62 billionaire spenders giving a total of $18.4 million to Cuomo-aligned super political action committees (super PACs). Democratic hopeful Zohran Mamdani has received the support of just two billionaire spenders, who together have contributed $270,000 to outside PACs pushing his candidacy.
• These few dozen billionaires have spent nearly twice the amount 60,000 individual contributors have made directly to the three general election candidates (including Republican Curtis Sliwa). This is because unlike direct donations to candidates, there is no limit on contributions to outside spending groups.
• Former mayor and media mogul Michael Bloomberg is leading the anti-Mamdani charge, having personally donated $8.3 million to the main super PAC backing Cuomo in the hopes of stopping Mamdani.
• 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.

Read the full report

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“Trump and his GOP allies in Congress are rushing through this disastrous bill to give massive handouts to their billionaire and corporate donors at the expense of their constituents before anyone notices,” said David Kass, ATFAF Executive Director. “Constituents deserve to know what their representatives in Washington are doing and how this tax bill will affect their lives. Cutting vital programs like Medicaid and SNAP will drive up healthcare and food costs for millions of workers and families—all to enrich the GOP’s billionaire donors at our expense. We urge all Americans to stand up and tell their elected representatives to oppose this deeply harmful bill.”

Previously, ATFAF launched bilingual digital and Spanish radio ads in these three districts from May 21st to June 13th, reaching millions of Latino constituents. This new round of ads will run from June 23rd through July 18th.

Ad Transcript (English Translation):

Did you know that health care programs are at risk? Your Representative, Jeff Hurd,  supports a plan that would cut Medicaid funding and food assistance to give tax benefits to billionaires.

Think about it: In our district, 194,000 neighbors depend on Medicaid and 45,000 families need food assistance. Trump’s tax plan would increase costs for working families to benefit the wealthiest. Should we enrich millionaires or support our community?

Tell Congressman Hurd to work for us, not for the special interests of the wealthy.

Call (202) 225-4676 today to connect with your congressman.

Paid for by Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund

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“Whether it’s the Congressional Republicans pushing trillions in cuts to healthcare and education, or the White House unilaterally laying off hardworking Americans who provide invaluable services to the public, it all serves the same goal: to fund their $5 trillion giveaway to the ultra-wealthy and big business at the expense of workers and families,” said David Kass, ATF’s executive director. “Now, dozens of GOP Congress members face a clear choice. When their constituents’ livelihood, healthcare, and nutritional services are unjustly being put at risk to fund tax breaks for the wealthy and elites—at rates higher than their recent margins of victory—will they stand with their neighbors or cave to their billionaire backers and party elites?”

Highlights from New Analysis :

Source: Congressional Research Service, Cook Political Report

Source: American Community Survey, Cook Political Report

Source: American Community Survey, Cook Political Report

The post Report Reveals Dozens of GOP House Seats with Victory Margins Lower Than Residents Who Could Be Hurt by Proposed Budget & DOGE Cuts appeared first on Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund.

Congressional Republicans recently pushed a tax-and-spending plan through the House Budget Committee that would cut at least $2 trillion from public services to partially pay for a $4.5 trillion tax cut that mostly benefits the rich and corporations. This “reconciliation” bill now goes to the House floor where dozens of Republicans in vulnerable congressional districts will have a big decision to make. Will they continue to support the extremist Trump-Musk fiscal agenda–which includes firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers, taking health coverage away from millions of children and families, and raising grocery prices for millions of Americans–or will they stand up for tens of thousands of their constituents who will suffer from these policies?  

In this analysis, we examine the most competitive Republican districts to see how many of their own constituents they would be willing to harm just to give billionaires like Elon Musk and Donald Trump another tax cut.

Source: Congressional Research Service, Cook Political Report

Source: American Community Survey, Cook Political Report

Source: American Community Survey, Cook Political Report

Following is more information on some of the Republican House members who will need to decide if they’ll put their loyalty to the Trump-Musk regime over their political future. 

Juan Ciscomani (Arizona 6th)

• Won his last election by 10,822 votes (2.5% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020.
• There are an estimated 14,803 federal workers in his district, 4.3% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 31,833 children (21% of all children), 58,431 working-age adults (13%), and 12,394 seniors (6%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district.
• There are 28,793 households receiving food aid (SNAP) in his district (8% of all residents), of which over a third contain children and over half include someone with a disability.

David Valadao (California 22nd)

• Won his last election by 11,461 votes (6.8% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020.
• There are 165,584 children (67% of all children), 172,112  working age adults (38%), and 24,156  seniors (32%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district. Valadao’s district has the highest share of under-65 residents on Medicaid/CHIP of any Congressional district in the nation. 
• There are 60,580 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (28% of all residents), of which over half contain children and nearly half include someone with a disability.

Gabe Evans (Colorado 8th)

• Won his last election by 2,449 votes (0.7% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020
• There are an estimated 7,318 federal workers in his district, 1.8% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 69,726 children (37% of all children), 60,000 working age adults (12%), and 7,808 seniors (9%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district.
• There are 29,494 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (11% of all residents), of which over half contain children and over half include someone with a disability.

Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Iowa 1st)

• Won her last election by 799 votes (0.2% margin).
• There are an estimated 10,633 federal workers in her district, 2.6% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 50,504 children (27% of all children), 58,278 working age adults (11%), and 6,674 seniors (5%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in her district.
• There are 28,793 households receiving SNAP benefits in her district (9% of all residents), of which nearly half contain children and over half include someone with a disability. 

Don Bacon (Nebraska 2nd)

• Won his last election by 5,829 votes (1.9% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
• There are an estimated 8,621 federal workers in his district, 2.4% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 48,933 children (27% of all children), 35,443 working age adults (8%), and 7,176 seniors (8%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district.
• There are 23,383 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (9% of all residents), of which over half contain children and over half include someone with a disability.

Ryan Mackenzie (Pennsylvania 7th)

• Won his last election by 4,062 votes (1% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020.
• There are an estimated 4,345 federal workers in his district, 1.1% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 64,032 children (37% of all children), 67,520 working age adults (14%), and 10,258 seniors (7%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district.
• There are 40,011 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (13% of all residents), of which nearly half contain children and nearly half include someone with a disability.

Rob Bresnahan (Pennsylvania 8th)

• Won his last election by 6,252 votes (1.6% margin). 
• There are an estimated 10,214 federal workers in his district, 2.9% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 70,321 children (44% of all children), 86,026 working age adults (18%), and 11,296 seniors (7%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district.
• There are 58,869 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (13% of all residents), of which nearly half contain children and over half include someone with a disability.

Scott Perry (Pennsylvania 10th)

• Won his last election by 5,133 votes (1.3% margin). 
• There are an estimated 12,963 federal workers in his district, 3.2% of the district’s total workforce.
• There are 53,069 children (29% of all children), 53,196 working age adults (11%), and 7,108 seniors (5%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district
• There are 38,134 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (12% of all residents), of which nearly half contain children and over half include someone with a disability.

Jen Kiggans (Virginia 2nd)

• Won his last election by 15,732 votes (3.8% margin). Joe Biden won this district in 2020.
• There are an estimated 30,707 federal workers in his district, 8.5% of the total workforce. Kiggans has the highest share of federal employees in his district of any Republican, and the 11th highest overall.  
• There are 33,065 children (18% of all children), 40,180 working age adults (8%), and 5,251 seniors (4%) who are covered by Medicaid or CHIP in his district
• There are 24,280 households receiving SNAP benefits in his district (8% of all residents), of which nearly half contain children and nearly half include someone with a disability.

ATF’s full analysis of all congressional districts can be found here.

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The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) recently shared a new analysis of the Biden-Harris budget. The CBO-JCT report offers a revenue figure $1.1 trillion lower than the one issued by the administration last spring. However, the CBO-JCT report excluded some of the biggest Biden-Harris revenue raisers from its analysis, which, if added back in, would bring the total in line with the administration’s estimate. The CBO-JCT excluded the administration’s proposed special tax on billionaires (estimated to raise over $500 billion) and fairer taxes on wealthy investors and their inheritors ($289 billion), among other proposals the agencies said lacked sufficient details to score.

“No one should be misled by attention-grabbing headlines about the new CBO-JCT report: the Biden-Harris administration has not only offered an ambitious suite of tax reforms on the rich and corporations, but has supplied realistic estimates of how much revenue those reforms would raise,” said David Kass, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “As we head into next year’s battle over the proposed permanent extension of expiring tax cuts for the rich contained in the 2017 Trump-GOP tax law, we can turn with confidence to the proposed Biden-Harris tax reforms as a fitting substitute–one that demands more from the wealthy rather than giving them more.”

The administration predicted its collection of loophole closures and rate increases, which would only apply to corporations and to households with over $400,000 of income, would raise $4.9 trillion in new revenue over 10 years. 

The additional smaller discrepancy between the CBO-JCT score and the administration’s figure is based on the report’s lower revenue predictions from three of the administration’s policies: 

• The congressional agencies predict slower economic growth than the administration, which would decrease how much revenue was raised from the proposed Biden-Harris hike in the corporate take rate from 21% to 28%. This is a disagreement on economic forecasting, not the revenue potential of a higher corporate tax rate. 
• The agencies expect restored funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to raise less money from rich and corporate tax cheats than does the Biden-Harris team.
• The agencies believe that raising the tax on corporate stock buybacks will curb share repurchases and thus lower the amount of tax raised over 10 years, even though imposition of the tax in 2023 only temporarily slowed down buybacks, which are now on schedule for yet another record. 

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“[The CBO-JCT] does not include all proposals with major budgetary effects contained in the Administration’s budget. As a result, this report does not include projections of total revenues, spending, deficits, and debt under the President’s budget. The proposals not included are estimated by the Administration to increase revenues by $1.0 trillion, on net, over the 2025–2034 period…” –CBO-JCT Analysis, p. 1

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On Wednesday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris put out a policy book: A New Way Forward for the Middle Class. In it, she outlines positions on taxes including raising taxes on corporations, billionaires and the wealthiest investors, and a promise to “roll back Trump’s tax cuts for the richest Americans” – a reference to the 2017 Trump-GOP tax, parts of which are set to expire at the end of this year. She reasserts her pledge not to raise taxes on anyone making less than $400,000 a year, and reiterates her plan to expand working-family tax credits. 

Specific revenue raisers through taxation of the wealthy and corporations contained in her plan include:

• “A minimum income tax on billionaires”: The Biden-Harris administration has proposed a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax of 25% on the nation’s handful of wealthiest households, those worth at least $100 million. Included in income for the purposes of the tax would be unrealized capital gains – the increased value of unsold investments –  which under current rules can go untaxed forever. Though applying to just 0.02% of all American households, the tax would bring in over $500 billion in revenue over 10 years. 
• Raising the corporate tax rate to 28 percent: The policy document notes that after the Trump tax law cut the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, corporations failed to “pass on the benefits of these very large tax cuts to workers or meaningfully increase investment in the United States. In fact, some companies moved jobs and profits overseas.” Boosting the corporate tax rate just half way back to its former level, as her plan would do, raises $1.35 trillion in revenue over a decade. 
• Increasing the capital gains tax rate on taxpayers with incomes over $1 million to 28%. Currently the top tax rate on long-term capital gains – the profit from selling an investment held over a year for more than its purchase price – is 20%. That’s little more than half the 37% top tax rate on wages. ATFAF supports equalizing the investment tax rate with the wage rate for the highest-income households, so wealthy investors pay the same rate as the tax rate paid by people who draw a paycheck, like nurses, teachers, and firefighters.
• Quadrupling the stock buyback tax. Corporations spend hundreds of billions of dollars buying back their own stock, which artificially inflates the value of their shares to the benefit of wealthy shareholders, but at the expense of other uses for that corporate cash, such as hiring, raising wages or making investments in the business. As part of the Biden-Harris administration’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, a 1% tax was imposed on corporate share repurchases. Quadrupling the rate to 4% would raise almost $170 billion over 10 years.

The post HARRIS RELEASES TAX PROPOSALS appeared first on Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund.

National: Data for Progress, Sept. 6-11, 2024. (1,225 likely voters nationwide) Over 70% believe billionaires should be paying more in taxes, including over two-thirds (71%) of independents and a majority of Republicans (53%). 

Battleground Congressional Districts: Impact Research, Aug. 7-12 2024. (1,500 likely voters in 61 competitive Congressional districts) A majority of voters (55%), including half of independents, oppose permanently extending the Trump-GOP tax cuts. A majority of respondents (55%) and of independents (53%) said that Republican tax policies favor the wealthy and corporations. Only a third (32%) of voters trust that incumbent Republican members of Congress will ensure the rich pay their fair share of taxes, while almost half (47%) trust that incumbent Democrats will (a relatively large 24% and 27%, respectively, didn’t know). 

Seven Swing States: Morning Consult, Mar. 14-17 2024. (4,932 voters in AZ, GA, MI, WI, NV, PA, NC)
By a margin of 49% (70% to 21%), voters support raising taxes on billionaires.

National: Data For Progress, March 15-20, 2023 (1,204 likely voters)
By a margin of 68% to 25%, voters support a “billionaire tax” that would require the wealthiest Americans to pay at least 25% in taxes on all their wealth over $100 million. 

National: Morning Consult, March 11-12, 2023 (2,001 registered voters)
By a margin of 63% to 27%, including 62% of Independents, voters support a “25% minimum tax on all the income of the wealthiest 0.01% of Americans.” 

National: YouGov, Sep. 16-19, 2022 (1,000 adult citizens)
By a margin of 61% to 22%, including 55% of Independents and 46% of Republicans, respondents support “requiring American households earning $100 million or more to pay at least 20% of their income in taxes.” By a margin of 67% to 21%, Americans agree that “a billion dollars is far more than any person needs, even if they live a lavish lifestyle.” By a margin of 70% to 15%, Americans agree that “some level of extreme wealth inevitably corrupts.”

National: Impact Research, Aug. 30-Sep. 7, 2022 (1,200 likely voters, including a 200-person Independent oversample, MOE + / – 3.1 percentage points)
Three-quarters (74%) of likely voters said they “would support a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax, which would require American households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20% of their annual income in taxes.” (Q19) Support by party breakdown: Democrats (94%), Independents (72%) and Republicans (55%).

National: RealClear Opinion Research, June 10-13, 2022 (2,201 registered voters)
By a margin of 72% to 16%, voters supported “A Billionaire Minimum Income Tax, which would require American households worth more than $100 million to pay at least 20% of their annual income in taxes?” Overall, 63% of Republicans supported the tax. 

National: Data for Progress, April 1-2, 2022 (1,253 likely voters, online panel, MOE +/-3%)
After having the main features of President Joe Biden’s Billionaire Minimum Income Tax explained to them, respondents were asked: “Do you support or oppose this proposal requiring households worth over $100 million to pay yearly taxes on all of their income, including the increased value of assets like corporate stock.” 59%, including 55% of Independents and 46% of Republicans, said they supported the measure, and just 31% opposed it. After pro- and con-messages were presented to the respondents, 58% still supported the measure, including 55% of Independents and 44% of Republicans.

National: YouGov, Mar. 31-Apr. 1, 2022 (7,693 adults)
YouGov finds that most Americans are skeptical that U.S. billionaires pay the full amount of taxes they owe. Three in five (60%) say they don’t generally pay the full amount they owe, while only 22% say they generally do. It also finds that 63% of U.S. adults somewhat or strongly support implementing a 20% tax on income over $100 million, while 20% somewhat or strongly oppose doing so. At least half of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans support this tax provision, as well as a majority of Americans across the income spectrum. 

National: Global Strategy Group/GBAO/Navigator, March 17-21, 2022 (1,000 registered voters)
69% of voters agree that “billionaires and big corporations no longer being able to get away with not paying their fair share of taxes” would help combat rising prices. (It tested as one of the top messages.) A majority of Independents (68%) and a plurality of Republicans (47%) held this point of view. Among “economically persuadable” voters (those who disapprove of President Biden but support Build Back Better) 80% agree that making billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share in taxes would help reduce rising prices.

National: Data for Progress, Nov. 10-15, 2021 (1,323 likely voters, online panel, MOE +/-3%)
After having the main features of Senator Ron Wyden’s Billionaires Income Tax explained to them, respondents were asked: “Do you support or oppose a proposal where billionaires pay yearly taxes on their assets, like stocks, that have increased in value.” 64%, including 61% of Independents and 47% of Republicans, said they supported the measure, and just 25% opposed it. After pro- and con-messages were presented to the respondents, 61% still supported the measure, including 55% of Independents and 51% of Republicans.

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