FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 19th, 2021

CONTACT

Carter Dougherty
carter@ourfinancialsecurity.org
(202) 251-6700

The House-passed Build Back Better Act is the first step
Next, it must be paid for by the rich and corporations

Today, the House passed the Build Back Better Act, sending historic investments in white, Black and Brown working people to the Senate. These investments are transformational, but unfortunately the tax provisions in the bill were not. The House missed an historic opportunity to advance racial and economic justice by including universally popular taxes on corporations and the rich. 

“BBBA provides needed investments for Black, white and Brown working people across this country, but fails to address the glaring examples of a tax system that  grants windfalls to the (largely white) super rich and corporations,” said Mandla Deskins, advocacy manager for Take on Wall Street. “The only way to permanently address the needs of white, Black and Brown working people is to change the tax code and the financial system. The House version of the BBBA missed that transformational opportunity.” 

As the package now heads to the Senate, lawmakers should include the missing provisions — solid revenue raisers — to create a package as transformative as the moment demands. This legislation should tackle inequality and racial justice through the inclusion of progressive revenue raisers, including real curbs on institutionalized tax cheating like the carried interest loophole. It should also include solutions like the stock buybacks tax and the billionaires tax to reverse the steady flow of public money into the pockets of greedy Wall Street executives.

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