WASHINGTON, D.C. — Progressive groups led by Tax March today launched ‘We Paid More’ – a campaign to highlight America’s broken and corrupt tax system. The initiative will include a six-figure ad campaign to elevate the stories of hard working Americans who pay their fair share in taxes, contrasting them with President Trump, who has spent decades avoiding federal income taxes.

Since Tax Day in 2017, Tax March and its coalition partners have fought for transparency and tax fairness, demanding that Donald Trump release his tax returns and opposing McConnell and Trump’s Tax Cuts and Job Act, a $1.5 trillion tax giveaway to the rich. With the new revelations on Trump’s decades of tax avoidance, it’s clear he has benefitted from a tax system that rewards corporations and the wealthy at the expense of everyone else.

“Donald Trump’s taxes are the clearest example of how broken and corrupt our tax system truly is,” said Maura Quint, Executive Director of Tax March. “The 200,000 Americans across 200 cities who marched in 2017 marched because they knew that it was vital to our democracy that a president be held accountable by being transparent, we now see just what he had to hide. As a private citizen and as president, he manipulated and maneuvered every opportunity to avoid contributing to our country through taxes, all while enriching himself at our expense. The system that allows the wealthy to force hard-working Americans to shoulder their tax responsibilities is simply unacceptable, and we can’t let it continue.”

Through ads and actions around the country, ‘We Paid More’ will share the stories of hard working Americans who have paid more in federal income taxes than the richest, like tax-dodger Donald Trump. The campaign will show how the outrageously wealthy hide their money and avoid paying taxes, while everyday Americans work hard and pay their fair share. While teachers, nurses and working families pay taxes to invest in the public good, people like Donald Trump can pay as little as $750 per year, or none at all.

Dana Bye, Campaign Director for Tax March added, “Even before his taxes were revealed, Donald Trump had shown us that he’s working for big corporations and the wealthy. The Republican Tax Scam in 2017 gave 83 percent of benefits to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. Under Trump, America’s billionaires have gotten $845 billion richer during the pandemic, while millions of us are out of work and struggling. Our families shouldn’t have to foot the bill while Donald Trump and his billionaire friends pay nothing.”

‘We Paid More’ is supported by a broad coalition of progressive groups who are calling for a fairer, progressive tax code. Several added comments on the launch of the campaign:

Frank Clemente, executive director, Americans for Tax Fairness commented: “Donald Trump is worth $2.5 billion right now, according to Forbes. It’s shocking that he’s paying less in federal income taxes than nurses, teachers and bus drivers—basically less than anyone making under $30,000 a year. While Trump may be one of the worst tax cheats, the richest 1% are typically paying far less than they should be because the tax system is rigged in their favor. Major reform is needed so we can move from ‘We Paid More’ to ‘Fair Share Taxes.’”

Morris Pearl, Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires and former managing director at BlackRock, Inc. added: “It’s absurd that rich people like me pay lower tax rates than most normal Americans. Donald Trump’s tax returns should be a call-to-arms for hard working Americans who pay their fair share to stand up and demand a tax system that treats everyone fairly, no matter how rich they are. No more special treatment for freeloading millionaires.”

Angel Padilla, National Policy Director for Indivisible said: “A handful of rich people and the largest corporations have rigged the game so they never lose on tax day. Whether they hide their profits in offshore accounts or pay for fancy lawyers to cover up their tax evasion, our current system lets them get away with it. Trump is just another greedy tax cheat, whose signature achievement in office is making it even easier for other greedy tax cheats to steal the public’s money and hoard it for themselves. Even worse, he wants to cut taxes for millionaires and billionaires even further, placing more of the burden on working people already reeling from Trump’s failure to respond to the pandemic. It’s long past time we make big corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share.”

Elyssa Schmier, National Director, National Budget and Taxes at MomsRising commented: “Moms across this country who work hard and pay their fair share of taxes are struggling mightily in the pandemic and the economic downturn. They are teachers, drivers and waitresses. They work in warehouses, factories and offices. And today millions are struggling to keep a roof over their heads and food on their tables as we watch our life savings dwindle and disappear. What do we have in common? We all paid thousands of dollars in federal income taxes last year because the Republican tax plan made the rich richer and left the rest of us to fend for ourselves. So America’s moms are angry that President Trump paid virtually no federal income taxes the last two years. We are demanding tax fairness now!”

Porter McConnell, Campaign Director of Take On Wall Street added: “We don’t need Warren Buffett to tell us that he paid a lower tax rate than his secretary. The financial industry and its armies of lawyers, bankers and accountants have been rigging the tax code for decades. The story that doesn’t get talked about is the burden that places on white, Black and brown working families who are paying more so Wall Street firms don’t have to. Tax March’s #WePaidMore effort helps to tell those stories, so we can work together to demand more from our leaders.”

Seth Hanlon, Senior Fellow at CAP Action commented: “The revelation that President Trump paid less in taxes in his first year in office than workers making $9 an hour is shocking, but sadly not surprising given what we knew about him. And it’s an indictment of the tax system as a whole, including the lack of enforcement against wealthy tax dodgers. Donald Trump promised to fix the tax system, then made it even worse with massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. And he’s still trying to give wealthy people like him big tax cuts by repealing the Affordable Care Act.”

‘We Paid More’ partners include:

Americans for Tax Fairness
CAPAction
Daily Kos
For Our Future
Indivisible
Main Street Alliance
MomsRising
NETWORK
Patriotic Millionaires
Public Citizen
Social Security Works
Stand Up America
Take on Wall Street
Tax March