For Main Street small businesses, the benefits of the Tax Act are peanuts. Nearly half of all the savings go to people making over $1 million a year.
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Economic Justice
Combating inequality means both lifting up and building power at the bottom, and breaking up concentration of wealth and power at the top. That’s why we work at the intersection of economic and racial justice through projects designed to build leadership and self-empowerment of black workers, immigrant workers, and low-wage workers, youth and families affected by incarceration, along with projects aiming to reverse the rules that criminalize poor people of color, and projects fighting to ensure that the wealthy and Wall Street corporations pay their fair share of taxes.
Latest Work
Toys ‘R’ Us Workers Take on Private Equity Vultures
The toy store’s former employees are using public shaming and pension plans to demand severance and fight Wall Street greed.
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The ‘Declaration of Independence’ Created a Country for Immigrants. What Happened?
A closer look at the United States’ founding document reveals a failure to live up to the principles and ideals expressed in it.
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Unions Have Survived Tough Times Before
The Supreme Court just dealt unions a crushing blow, but they’ve endured worse — and come out stronger.
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Minimum Wage? It’s Time to Talk About a Maximum Wage
Conservatives try to laugh off the idea of capping executive pay – but it’s an idea with a distinguished history.
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The Heat: Canada’s decision to legalize marijuana
Canada recently became the first industrialized nation to legalize marijuana for recreational purposes.
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Still Another Reason to Cheer LeBron James
An iconic basketball superstar reminds us that raising taxes on the rich will not end civilization as we know it.
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Why ‘Janus’ Figures to Juice Income Inequality in America
Any court ruling that limits how effectively unions can bargain on behalf of workers, even mainstream economists recognize, concentrates wealth at our economic summit.
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How to Restore Taxes on Inheritances
With the estate tax further weakened, is it time to pivot to an inheritance tax?
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Corporate Wage Theft is on the Rise
Executives have a powerful incentive to cheat their workers: to pad their own exorbitant paychecks.
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Reports
REPORT: The Warfare State: How Funding for Militarism Compromises Our Welfare
Nearly two-thirds of the federal discretionary budget goes to militarized federal programs, leaving just over a third for our communities — a sliver some lawmakers want to cut even further.
REPORT: A Tale of Two Retirements 2023
Our tax code helps CEOs retire in luxury while ordinary workers struggle. Here’s how to fix it.
Report: High Flyers 2023: How Ultra-Rich Private Jet Travel Costs the Rest of Us and Burns Up the Planet
In this report, we assess the environmental, economic, and security risks of private jet travel — and lay out tax reforms to offset them.
Tax Day 2023: Where Your 2022 Tax Dollars Went
IPS’s National Priorities Project takes a look at where American taxpayers’ money went in 2022, and how skewed our national priorities are.
Wall Street Bonuses Decline But Still Dwarf Worker Pay Increases Since 2008 Crash
Since 2008, the average Wall Street bonus has climbed by more than 75 percent, compared to just a 54 percent increase in average earnings of all private sector workers and a 42 percent rise in manufacturing wages. If the minimum wage had increased as much as Wall Street bonuses since 1985, it would be worth $42.37 today.