One Tax System for Most of us, A Second Tax System for the Wealthy

Sep 03, 2019

By Tara Jensen

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy recently reported on the inequities in our nation’s tax system. Big corporations and the wealthy are able to find loopholes to skirt their tax bill, resulting in a secret second tax system. This second tax system includes special tax breaks only available to those able to afford the most expensive accounting firms, making the tax system even less fair. Walmart is one of these companies seeking nationwide tax breaks. The Walton family last year got wealthier by $4 million AN HOUR. This is twice as much as the statewide biennial appropriation for state tribal colleges. This equates to $100 million a day, bringing their total family fortune to $190 billion. At the same time, Walmart has been seeking lower property taxes nationwide, including for several stores in Montana. While the majority of us continue to pay our fair share of taxes and as a result support the Montana we all love, the wealthy have a second tax system riddled with special tax breaks. The Legislature can help to reduce the effect of this second tax system by fairly taxing the wealthy and corporations with an elimination of the capital gains tax credit, a top tax rate on the wealthy, cleaning up our tax expenditures, and eliminating the oil and gas tax holiday and other loopholes.