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

Sick of Outrageously Excessive CEO Compensation?

If you care about health, you certainly should be.

Red Cup Rebellion Redux: A Q&A with Starbucks Workers United

“You are making $15 an hour when your boss is making that in a breath.”

VIDEO: How Wealthy Donors Warehouse Charitable Funds “for Generations”

At Scripps News, Chuck Collins breaks down the true cost of billionaire philanthropy — and how to put charitable donations back in the hands of actual charities.

Our Rich: Fooling Themselves and Fouling Our Planet

Electric air taxis aren’t going to save the world. Really taxing the rich, on the other hand, could.

Pentagon Fails Its Sixth Audit

Every year that members of Congress vote for budget boosts to this agency with no strings attached, they choose to spend untold billions on war with no accountability.

Revealing the True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy

How the ultra-wealthy use charitable giving to avoid taxes and exert influence — while ordinary taxpayers foot the bill.

The Climate Justice Shot Heard ‘Round the World: No New Private Jet Infrastructure

If activists succeed in stopping the Hanscom expansion, it will be the next “shot heard ’round the world” on a warming planet.

Patriotic Millionaires to High Court: Don’t Preempt Taxing Grand Fortune

A wrong decision in the Moore case could set back tax justice for years.

The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy: How the Taxpayer Subsidizes Stockpiled Wealth

Our report estimates that the direct taxpayer subsidy for charitable giving is $111 billion a year.

Building Cleaners Rally for Fair Wages and Life-Saving Benefits

A Q&A with a veteran building cleaner on what’s at stake for her workplace, her union, and her city’s working class.

Black Worker Initiative

Criminalization of Race and Poverty

Drug Policy

Global Economy

Inequality.org

Program on Inequality and the Common Good

National Priorities Project

Economic Hardship Reporting Project

Reports

REPORT: The True Cost of Billionaire Philanthropy

Chuck Collins, Helen Flannery, Bella DeVaan | November 15, 2023

New analysis details how the ultra-wealthy use charitable giving to avoid taxes and exert influence, while ordinary taxpayers foot the bill.

An image of the cover of this report, where an illustrated plane gives off exhaust. In the exhaust fumes reads "Hanscom High Flyers: Private Jet Excess doesn't Justify Expansion"

REPORT: Hanscom High Flyers

Chuck Collins, Kalena Thomhave, Omar Ocampo, Jiajin Wu | October 1, 2023

Private jet travel is a monumental example of private excess at public expense. Here’s a local case study.

REPORT: Executive Excess 2023

Sarah Anderson | August 24, 2023

These “Low Wage 100” large corporations are enriching CEOs at the expense of both workers and taxpayers.

REPORT: Still A Dream: Over 500 Years to Black Economic Equality

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo, Sally Sim | August 16, 2023

60 years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, the racial wealth divide persists.

REPORT: A Tale of Two Retirements 2023

Sarah Anderson, Scott Klinger | May 17, 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

Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo, Kalena Thomhave | May 1, 2023

In this report, we assess the environmental, economic, and security risks of private jet travel — and lay out tax reforms to offset them.

people holding signs that say make billionaires pay

Report: “Extreme Wealth: The growing number of people with extreme wealth and what an annual wealth tax could raise”

Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo | January 17, 2023

An annual wealth tax on the world’s richest could raise $1.7 trillion globally.

REPORT: Homecoming: The Greater Birmingham Community Speaks on Regional Cooperation and a More Inclusive Economy

Marc Bayard, Allan M. Freyer, Ph.D., Robyn Hyden | November 17, 2022

Greater Birmingham, AL, has experienced a resurgence in economic growth and civic engagement. Yet the benefits of this prosperity are not widely shared.

Report: Gilded Giving 2022

Chuck Collins, Helen Flannery | July 19, 2022

Our nation’s charitable system is in danger of becoming a taxpayer-subsidized platform of private power for the ultra-wealthy.

lower half of a Black woman's face in purple silhouette with black background

The Other Side of the Storm

Kimberly Freeman Brown, Marc Bayard | June 21, 2022

What Do Black Immigrant Domestic Workers in the Time of Covid-19 Teach Us About Building a Resilient Care Infrastructure?

Bay State Billionaires

Chuck Collins, Omar Ocampo | June 9, 2022

Massachusetts billionaires' wealth surges 46 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Executive Excess 2022

Sarah Anderson, Sam Pizzigati, Brian Wakamo | June 7, 2022

The CEOs at America’s largest low-wage employers are grabbing huge raises while workers and consumers struggle with rising costs.

Report: Taxing the World’s Richest Would Raise $2.52 Trillion a Year

Chuck Collins | January 18, 2022

A new joint report from Fight Inequality Alliance, Institute for Policy Studies, Oxfam, and Patriotic Millionaires details what can be funded by simply taxing the rich.