Follow the Money Trail
Your child’s school needs new textbooks. The bridge you drive to work has cracks running down its sides. Your local hospital’s emergency room is understaffed. Meanwhile, Amazon paid zero federal taxes in 2018 despite making $11 billion in profit.
This isn’t a coincidence—it’s a carefully orchestrated shell game that’s been running for decades.
The Numbers Don’t Lie
Here’s how the scam works: Corporate tax rates plummeted from 35% to 21% under Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. But even that understates the reality. Fortune 500 companies actually paid an effective rate of just 11.3% between 2018-2020—less than what many middle-class families pay.
In 2020 alone, 55 major corporations paid absolutely nothing in federal taxes despite raking in $40.5 billion in profits. That’s not smart accounting—that’s a rigged system.
The result? Corporate tax revenue as a share of our economy has collapsed from 6.1% in 1952 to just 1.9% in 2022. We’re talking about hundreds of billions in lost revenue that should be funding the things that make America work.
Where That Money Should Be Going
While corporations dodge their responsibilities, Republican politicians conveniently discover they’re “deficit hawks” when it comes to investing in Americans:
Education under attack: House Republicans proposed slashing education funding by $24.6 billion—that’s 224,000 teaching positions eliminated during a national teacher shortage. Your kid’s overcrowded classroom isn’t an accident; it’s a policy choice.
Healthcare gutted: The Republican Study Committee wants to cut federal healthcare spending by 54% over the next decade. This means Medicaid, CHIP, and Affordable Care Act programs that millions of families depend on.
Infrastructure crumbling: We have a $2.6 trillion maintenance backlog for roads, bridges, and water systems. Every pothole, every “boil water” notice, every bridge closure—that’s what happens when we let corporations off the hook while our shared infrastructure falls apart.
The “Starve the Beast” Strategy Exposed
This isn’t accidental. It’s a deliberate three-step process Republicans have perfected:
- Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations (reducing government revenue)
- Create budget deficits through these irresponsible tax giveaways
- Use those deficits as an excuse to cut programs that help working families
They literally call it “starve the beast”—deliberately weakening government so they can privatize everything from schools to Social Security.
The Wealth Transfer in Action
We’ve seen this playbook before. In Kansas, massive tax cuts led to a full-blown crisis: schools couldn’t afford textbooks, the state’s credit rating was downgraded, and highways went without basic maintenance. It was such a disaster that even the Republican legislature had to reverse course.
But the damage was real. Teachers left the profession. Students fell behind. Infrastructure deteriorated. All so wealthy donors could keep a few more dollars.
Meanwhile, Trump’s tax cuts gave the top 1% an average break of $61,000 per year. Working families? They got $500. And now Republicans want to make these cuts permanent while simultaneously complaining there’s no money for your child’s education.
The Corporate Welfare Kings
Let’s talk about Amazon again. Not only did they pay zero federal taxes, but they also received $4.7 billion in government subsidies. That’s taxpayer money going directly to one of the world’s most profitable companies while rural hospitals close and schools can’t afford to fix their leaking roofs.
General Motors took $3.5 billion in bailout funds from taxpayers, then moved jobs overseas. Big Pharma benefits from billions in public research funding, then charges Americans the highest drug prices in the world.
This is socialism—for the rich.
Democrats Offer a Different Path
The solution isn’t complicated: make corporations pay their fair share. Democratic tax policy closes loopholes, ensures profitable companies contribute to the country that made their success possible, and invests that revenue in the things that benefit everyone.
When corporations pay taxes, we can fund great schools, fix our roads and bridges, expand healthcare access, and build the clean energy infrastructure that will power our economy for decades to come.
Your Vote Is Your Voice
Every election, you’re choosing between two visions of America. Republicans want to continue the shell game—cutting taxes for their donors while telling you there’s no money for your priorities. Democrats believe in an America where everyone pays their fair share and we invest in our shared future.
The next time someone tells you we can’t afford better schools or infrastructure repairs, ask them why Amazon’s effective tax rate is lower than a nurse’s. The money is there—it’s just a question of whether we’ll demand that the biggest winners in our economy contribute to the country that made their success possible.
Your community’s future depends on it. Vote like it matters—because it does.