Ruben Gallego Backs Bills Ensuring Ultra-Rich Pay Higher Taxes

On Tax Day, Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) touted his support for two bills that ensure the wealthiest of Americans pay more in taxes.

The first, the Millionaires Surtax Act, places an additional 100% on incomes of more than $1 million for single earners and $2 million for married couples, applying equally to wages, salaries, capital gains, and other realized investment income.

Second is the Stop Corporations and High Earners from Avoiding Taxes and Enforce the Rules Strictly (Stop CHEATERS) Act, which restores $83 billion in rescinded funding to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Specifically, $45.3 billion goes to the Enforcement wing, to audit top earners and large corporations thoroughly, and to improve criminal investigation and fraud prevention. Other portions of the $83 billion go toward technological improvements, pre-filing assistance, education, and taxpayer advocacy services.

Finally, the Stop CHEATERS Act requires the IRS Commissioner to report to Congress on the agency's plan to shift auditing and enforcement resources to high-income individuals and large corporations.

"Across the country, middle- and working-class Americans have paid their fair share in taxes. Millionaires and billionaires, on the other hand, have not," Sen. Gallego claims in a press release announcing the bills. "Our tax code is broken, and, thanks to Republicans' tax law, it's only gotten worse. Not only did they give tax breaks to billionaires, they also made it easier for them to get away with cheating on the taxes they do owe. I'm fighting for a tax code that works for working people, and the bills I'm backing today get us closer to that goal."

In September, the Arizona Senator introduced two bills cutting taxes elsewhere.

The first was the You Earn It, You Keep It Act, which ensures that no taxes will be taken out of Social Security income by expanding the Social Security payroll tax to covered earnings of $250,000 or more per year.

Second, introduced several days later, was the No Tax on Large Party Tips Act, which ensures that auto-gratuities and recommended tips, like the kind restaurants put on the bill for large parties, are untaxed.