Baldwin, Colleagues Reintroduce Bill to Ensure Wealthiest Americans Pay Their Fair Share in Taxes

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) and her colleagues introduced the Paying a Fair Share Act to ensure that millionaires pay higher tax rates than middle-class Americans by enacting a 30-percent minimum tax on those with incomes over $1 million.

“Working families should not be paying more in taxes than the wealthiest Americans. Period. But right now, our system is rigged against teachers, firefighters, and nurses while letting Wall Street get massive tax breaks to pad their pockets. It’s just plain wrong,” said Senator Baldwin. “This commonsense bill will level the playing field, help close the deficit, and ensure that the wealthiest among us pay their fair share in taxes.”

In 2022, the top .001% (or 1,538 households) earned at least $85.5 million and paid an average federal tax rate of 23.5 percent.

The Paying a Fair Share Act would ensure that the highest-earning Americans pay at least a 30% effective tax rate. The bill would apply only to taxpayers with income over $1 million (including capital gains and dividends) – approximately 0.58% of taxpayers in 2024. The legislation includes a phase-in for additional tax liability for taxpayers earning between $1 million and $2 million and would preserve the incentive for charitable giving.

The Paying a Fair Share Act is expected to raise nearly $120 billion in revenue over ten years and would provide a backstop to limit future tax dodging by the ultrawealthy.

The bill is led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and co-sponsored by twelve other Senators.

Full text of this legislation is available here. 

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