For Immediate Release:  April 15, 2025

Contact: Gena Madow, gmadow@communitycatalyst.org
Jarice Thompson, jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org

Tax Day Spotlight: Tax Code Fuels Health Inequity, Medical Debt, and Encourages Medicaid Cuts
“This Tax Day, the math doesn’t add up—and families across the country are paying the price.”

WASHINGTON, D.C. — This Tax Day, Community Catalyst and advocates across the country are sounding the alarm on a tax system that prioritizes profit over people—and demanding change. While teachers, EMTs, and nurses pay their fair share, corporations and the wealthiest people in America are handed tax breaks. And instead of investing in programs like Medicaid and SNAP, some lawmakers are pushing to slash $880 billion from Medicaid—terminating care for millions, including children, older adults, veterans, and people with disabilities.  

“This Tax Day, the math doesn’t add up—and families across the country are paying the price. Tax policy is health policy. Our tax code currently favors billionaires and large corporations, while underfunding the programs families count on—driving medical debt, surprise bills, and barriers to care,” said Mona Shah, Senior Director of Policy and Strategy at Community Catalyst. “This Tax Day, we’re calling for a system that puts people over profit by closing loopholes, rejecting Medicaid cuts, and investing in care for all—regardless of income, race, or zip code.”

This Tax Day, we’re exposing how tax policy is #TaxingOurHealth—and demanding Congress fund our care. 

Community Catalyst, alongside partners—Americans for Financial Reform, Americans for Tax Fairness, Fair Share America, Families Over Billionaires, Groundwork Collaborative, People’s Action Institute, Private Equity Stakeholder Project, Take on Wall Street, and Unrig our Economy—are making clear the connection between tax policy and health inequities by highlighting how Medicaid cuts and medical debt are driven by a tax code that benefits corporations and the wealthy at the expense of communities. Last week, Community Catalyst and a youth advisory board member joined a rally in Washington, D.C., as part of a national day of action. The rally—hosted by Fair Share America—brought together advocates, storytellers, and partners from more than 30 states to demand Congress reject tax breaks for billionaires and corporations paid for by cuts to Medicaid and other essential programs.

“Private equity firms are profiting off our healthcare system by slashing staff, hiking prices, and saddling hospitals with debt—all to extract quick profits,” said Oscar Valdés Viera, private equity and capital markets policy analyst at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. “Meanwhile, the tax code rewards this exploitation by allowing private equity executives to pay lower rates on their massive payouts than the nurses and other workers keeping hospitals and nursing homes running. Closing the carried interest loophole is a critical step toward a fairer system that puts care over corporate greed.”

“Tax day highlights gaping disparities in a system that Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Congressional Republicans are skewing even further in favor of the wealthy by gutting essential public programs like Medicaid and Social Security, raising costs, and giving trillions in tax handouts to the very rich,” said Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America. “But they aren’t doing it without a massive fight: Across the country, people are courageously telling their stories and demanding that their members of Congress stand with workers and families over corruption and greed.”

“Our tax system has been deeply flawed for decades, favoring the ultra wealthy and enabling them to accumulate wealth and political influence over lives,” said David Kass, Executive Director of Americans for Tax Fairness. “We cannot let Republicans and their billionaire backers cut Medicaid and nutrition services for people to pay for trillions in tax cuts for billionaires. We need a healthcare and tax system that serves all of us, not just the wealthy few.”

“While filing taxes is never fun, this year’s Tax Day is even worse because Elon Musk, Donald Trump, and their billionaire friends are rigging the system against everyday people to line their own pockets. Thanks to Musk, it’s now easier than ever for the ultra-wealthy to cheat on their taxes, but harder for everyday taxpayers to file theirs – including trying to get rid of free filing services for people,” said Michael Linden, Campaign Director of Families Over Billionaires. ‘Unfortunately, the pain for working families doesn’t stop with Musk’s gutting of the IRS. To fund tax breaks for their billionaire friends, the Trump-Musk administration is slashing funding from essential services like veterans’ health care, America’s public schools, and Social Security. It’s time for politicians in Washington to stop putting billionaires and giant corporations ahead of working families.” 

“The president is pushing the country toward economic ruin, and Republicans in Congress responded by passing a budget resolution that would rip away health care and food assistance from millions of people,” said Alex Jacquez, Chief of Policy and Advocacy at Groundwork Collaborative. “The GOP would rather rig the tax code for their billionaire donors than address the needs of working-class families.”

“There is enough for all of us to have what we need if billionaires and corporations don’t steal it. Congressional leadership plans to take health care away from parents and their children, from seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, and the people who support them,” said Sulma Arias, Executive Director of People’s Action Institute. “Members of Congress can still reject cuts to Medicaid and the essential programs their constituents count on. But they must choose: Either protect public dollars, health care, and working families in their districts, or give more tax cuts, more yachts, and more mansions to billionaires and their corporations.” 

“While Wall Street firms and their billionaire owners cash in on tax breaks, Congress is proposing $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid—ripping healthcare away from millions of people. This isn’t about balancing the budget—it’s about protecting the profits of the ultra-wealthy at the expense of working families,” said Eileen O’Grady, Director of Programs at Private Equity Stakeholder Project. We need a tax system that invests in care, not crisis—one that puts people over profits and ensures everyone, no matter their zip code or income, can live with dignity.”

“Working people are fed up with a system that prioritizes giant corporations and their wealthy CEOs. Just last week, Republicans in Congress advanced a plan that will take away Medicaid coverage and cut other crucial programs just to fund more massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires,” said Unrig Our Economy spokesperson Kobie Christian. “At the same time, Republicans in Congress also voted to protect tariffs, which raise costs for everyday Americans. Working families don’t want to use their hard-earned money to pay for another tax break for the wealthy. They want Congress to unrig the system and reject this pro-billionaire agenda that gives tax breaks to billionaires paid for by Medicaid cuts and cost-raising tariffs.” 

We Deserve a Tax Code That Prioritizes Health and Equity. Reforms like taxing wealth fairly and restoring the estate tax can fund essential services and close harmful gaps. 

Take Action Now. 

• Read and share our blog to learn why the tax code matters for our health
• Sign and share our action telling Congress “no cuts to Medicaid to fund tax breaks for corporations

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About Community Catalyst:   

Community Catalyst is a national organization dedicated to building the power of people to create a health system rooted in race equity and health justice, and a society where health is a right for all. We’re an experienced, trusted partner to organizations across the country, a change agent to policymakers at the local, state, and national level, and both an adversary and a collaborator to health systems in our efforts to advance health justice. We partner with local, state and national organizations and leaders to leverage and build power so that people are at the center of important decisions about health and health care, whether they are made by health care executives, in state houses, or on Capitol Hill. Together with partners, we’re building a powerful, united movement with a shared vision of and strategy for a health system accountable to all people. Learn more at www.communitycatalyst.org.