April 30, 2025                                                         Home   Subscribe  Open in Browser

When I was a farm kid in Minnesota, my mom helped me make candy-filled May Day baskets and then we’d drive around hanging them on my friends’ doorknobs.

I wouldn’t learn until college that millions of people all around the world have a much different take on May Day. They celebrate May 1 as International Workers’ Day. And this year, with American workers under increasing attack, that celebrating will be going big-time. Labor advocates nationwide have organized more than 1,000 May Day rallies. You can find an action near you right here. 

Earlier this week, at a Capitol Hill rally with Bishop William J. Barber II, I shared this rundown of the Trump administration’s most harmful assaults on workers. This May Day, sharing solidarity seems a bit more important than sharing candy. 

Sarah Anderson
for the Institute for Policy Studies’ Inequality.org team

Amazon Worker Speaks Out Against Tax Giveaways for Bezos and His Pals

This week’s frontline face: Wendy Taylor, a worker and organizing committee activist at an Amazon warehouse outside St. Louis, Missouri. 

What she’s doing to help create a more equal world: On top of her organizing work, Taylor is serving as a spokesperson for a new report about Amazon executives’ huge tax windfalls from the 2017 Trump tax cut and the huge giveaways they stand to gain from new legislation Congress is currently crafting.  

“Certain politicians have let Jeff Bezos and Amazon CEO Andrew Jassy rig the rules in their favor,” Taylor notes. “They pay nearly nothing in taxes, diverting public resources from our parks, schools, and neighborhoods for their private gain. Together, we must demand Amazon pay what they owe — both through taxes and fair wages.” 

What makes this fight so important to her: “My husband and I wait in line for hours at the food pantry every Monday while Amazon's executives make millions off our labor,” Taylor points out. “We all deserve to retire with dignity, but I have zero savings while the people whose wealth I'm creating have more than they and their future generations could ever need.” 

Check out the full new report — Amazon and Our Rigged Tax System, from the Institute for Policy Studies, PowerSwitch Action, and the Athena Coalition — below. 

People Like Progressive Policies. Why Not Let People Vote on Them?

A troubling puzzle in progressive politics: Egalitarian policies continue to poll well. But the candidates willing to fight for these policies often tend to struggle at the ballot box. What if we, especially in red states, did more to put progressive policies directly before voters via citizen-driven ballot initiatives?

These initiatives, according to a new report from Arizona State University’s Center for Work and Democracy, pass at a high rate across both blue and red states.

Redistributive ballot measures — think raising the minimum wage — pass at an astonishing 92 percent rate in red states. Going straight to voters on these measures, wherever possible, might help speed a more equal sharing of our nation’s income and wealth.

President Trump’s treasury secretary blasted the International Monetary Fund last week after IMF officials had the audacity to forecast that President Trump’s tariffs will slow global growth. U.S. officials clearly feel they can bully this international financial institution. Despite having only 4 percent of the world’s population, the United States holds nearly 17 percent of IMF voting power. For an interactive version of this chart and more on global inequality, click the link to our Inequality.org Facts section below.

Is the Gravy Train Finally Stalling for America’s Tax Prep Kingpin?

This week’s dour deep pocket: Sasan Goodarzi, the CEO of Intuit, the national tax preparation giant. Intuit’s  TurboTax product currently has the company sporting a profit margin over 50 percent, a performance that helped Goodarzi to $37 million in 2024 compensation, up from a mere $27 million in 2023.

What has Goodarzi sour: Donald Trump’s shrinking public support.

The tax prep industry has been counting on Trump to kill the Biden reform, “Direct File,” that lets taxpayers file their taxes online at no cost. An IRS pilot of the program last year proved wildly successful. Team Trump, after a massive Intuit lobbying effort, is now moving to end Direct File. But Trump’s polling nosedive may complicate that move.

And so may public revulsion against the massive IRS staffing cuts now underway that will turn tax audits of America’s rich into exercises in futility.

The last word: High-income taxpayers will “feel emboldened to avoid taxes if they feel the IRS doesn’t have the ability or resources to catch them,” warns a new analysis from Patriotic Millionaires, a national group committed to making sure America’s most privileged pay their full and fair tax share.

Our research, editorial, and publishing team depends on hundreds of paid subscribers who make monthly gifts. Some give $3 each month. Others give $200! All told, this support enables our team to stay focused on identifying causes and solutions to our deep economic inequality. Paid subscribers have contributed more than $20,000 in the past year. Ready to become a paid subscriber? Sign up today.