Happy Hump Day, Shit Givers.
Today is Tax Day in America. So, why not take this opportunity to talk about who actually does the work, who actually pays, and what it would look like if we rewrote the rules so that policy benefitted and protected working people instead of billionaires.
Let’s go.
— Willow
Carried interest and other polite words for avoiding taxes
Current tax policy doesn’t have everyone paying their fair share. Things like the carried interest loophole let investment managers pay capital gains rates on their income instead of the ordinary income rates that apply to what the rest of us make.
Then there’s the corporate minimum tax. The IRA established a 15% floor, but enforcement is underfunded, and most key provisions were gutted in the One Big Beautiful Bill. And the wealthiest Americans hold most of their wealth in unrealized gains that are never taxed at all — establishing a minimum on total income including unrealized gains would raise trillions.
Here’s what you can do:
Be Heard about ending the carried interest loophole by telling your representatives to support the Carried Interest Fairness Act. (go)
Learn your numbers with the Institute for Policy Studies. They’ve been doing the research on wealth inequality and tax fairness for decades. (go)
The Greenlining Institute works on economic equity and closing the racial wealth gap, because surprise, surprise, tax policy isn’t race-neutral. (go)
Front and Centered advocated for communities of color most harmed by economic and tax policy. Support their work. (go)
The right to ask for more
The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since 2009, the longest stretch without an increase since it was created. And, adjusted for inflation, it’s worth even less now than it was then. This is, to put it mildly, complete baloney because meanwhile, what has gone up is worker productivity, corporate profits, and CEO pay.
The right to organize is the mechanism workers use to get power when the law won’t give it to them. Unions deliver higher wages, better benefits, and safer workplaces, but they’ve been systematically weakened for fifty years.
Here’s what you can do:
The Raise the Wage Act would phase minimum wage to $17 and indexes it to median wage growth so we never have to have this conversation again, which would be ideal. So let’s shoot for that. (go)
The PRO Act is the most comprehensive labor legislation in decades. It would ban captive audience meetings, prevent misclassification, and strengthen organizing rights. (go)
Jobs With Justice builds coalitions between labor, community, and faith groups to support workers’ rights to organize. Build with them. (go)
Together With Incogni
Unknown number calling? It’s not random.
The BBC caught scam call center workers on hidden cameras as they laughed at the people they were tricking. One worker bragged about making $250k from victims. The disturbing truth? Scammers don’t pick phone numbers at random. They buy your data from brokers.
Once your data is out there, it’s not just calls. It’s phishing, impersonation, and identity theft. That’s why we recommend Incogni: They delete your info from the web, monitor and follow up automatically, and continue to erase data as new risks appear. Try Incogni today and get 58% off annual plans with code INI58.
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Your job shouldn’t kill you (radical stuff, I know)
There’s still no federal heat safety standard. Workers are dying from heat exposure on the job, and OSHA has no enforceable rule to protect them, which is concerning coming out of the hottest March on record. Farmworkers and anyone who works outside are also exposed to wildfire smoke.
Here’s what you can do:
Farmworkers face the double threat of heat and wildfire smoke. The Farmworker Smoke and Excessive Heat Protection Act addresses both. (go)
The Asunción Valdivia Heat Illness, Injury, and Fatality Prevention Act, named for a California farmworker who died of heat stroke after working a 10-hour shift in 105 degree heat, would finally set a federal standard. (go)
On the other hand, the Heat Workforce Standards Act would block OSHA from ever implementing heat protections. How about no. (go)
The Migrant Clinicians Network provides health services and advocacy for mobile and migrant workers who are most exposed to these risks, and least likely to have access to care. (go)
And another thing!
Conversations about wages and unions assumes there’s a job to organize around. Automation and climate disruption are eliminating categories of work, and the answer isn’t nostalgia for jobs that aren’t coming back. Instead, we can build pathways to the work that is.
And then there’s the global version of this problem, where 700 million people live on less than $2.15 a day. The most cost-effective intervention we know of is just giving people money, no strings attached. People are pretty good at knowing what they need.
Here’s what you can do:
The Construction Trades Workforce builds pathways into union trades for workers who’ve been left out of the pipeline. (go)
Grid Alternatives trains and employs workers from underserved communities to install solar. (go)
The Center for Coalfield Justice supports workers and communities navigating the fossil fuel transition in the places that built America’s energy economy and got left holding the bill. (go)
GiveDirectly gives unconditional cash directly to people living in extreme poverty, with no conditions, lectures, or middlemen. (go)
GiveWell has the research on why this works, and where your money goes the furthest. (go)
Protect workers and tax the rich! Let’s get it done.
Thank you — as always — for giving a shit.
— Willow
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