Today, Senator Edward Markey (D-MA) introduced landmark legislation that would ensure millionaires and billionaires, who earn most of their money passively through investments, pay the same tax rates as working people. The bill would also move to close common loopholes used by the super rich to avoid paying their fair share in taxes.
Following the bill’s introduction, Morris Pearl, the Chair of Patriotic Millionaires and a former Managing Director at BlackRock, released the following statement:
“For decades, we have been playing a game of Economic Jenga where we pull from the bottom and the middle, load it all on top, and then wonder why the whole thing is about to fall down. We end up with an unfair system that allows for oligarchic wealth to concentrate in the hands of a few individuals. That’s because right now in America, our tax code makes people who have jobs and work for a living pay far higher tax rates than people who make money from investments or inheritances. The money that investors like me make passively from our wealth should not be taxed any less than the money millions of Americans make through their sweat. By closing major loopholes, the Equal Tax Act would ensure that the ultra rich pay income taxes just like all Americans who work for a living and have taxes deducted from their paychecks every week. The Patriotic Millionaires are thrilled to see Senator Markey take this important step forward in reducing historic, extreme, and democracy-destabilizing levels of economic inequality in America.”
Congresswoman Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03) previously introduced the House companion bill in September 2025. The bill addresses the first of three key components from Patriotic Millionaires’ legislative platform, The MONEY Agenda.
For more information about the Equal Tax Act, access a one-pager about the bill HERE. To access the full text of the legislation, see HERE.
This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Newswire Editor.