Do the rich pay their fair share?

“We can either have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few," famously said former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis. "But we can’t have both."

At Oxfam, we’ve been tracking the rise in corporate power and billionaire wealth. With the world’s first trillionaire expected within just 10 years—and the Trump administration’s ambition to push through new tax cuts favoring the ultra-wealthy—it's an important time to understand whether the rich pay their fair share.

So we’re going to answer these questions, step by step: Do billionaires and giant corporations pay their fair share? How would President Trump’s proposals affect what they pay in taxes? And what would the rich paying their fair share mean for something as ambitious as ending poverty and injustice?

Do billionaires pay their fair share?

Billionaires in the U.S. pay a smaller tax rate than most teachers and nurses. Thanks to a tax code that favors income from wealth over income from work—and a slew of tax-avoidance strategies—the richest among us too often end up paying a smaller percentage of their income to the federal government than most working families.

Here’s what we know:

• A new Oxfam analysis shows the wealth of the 10 richest U.S. billionaires increased by $365 billion in just 12 months, based on data from Forbes.

• According to a 2021 White House study, the wealthiest 400 billionaire families in the U.S. paid an average federal individual tax rate of just 8.2 percent. For comparison, the average American taxpayer in the same year paid 13 percent.
  
  
• According to leaked tax returns highlighted in a ProPublica investigation, the 25 richest Americans paid $13.6 billion in taxes from 2014-2018—a “true” tax rate of just 3.4 percent on $401 billion of income.
  

That’s not paying your fair share. Instead of rewarding wealth over work, our tax system should ensure that billionaires play by the same set of rules as the rest of us. It’s good for the planet, and it’s essential to the preservation of our democracy.

So what should they pay?

• Higher tax rates: The IRS code should raise individual tax rates for billionaires and equalize taxes on capital gains and labor income so work isn’t taxed more than wealth.
  
  
• A fair tax on their wealth: Billionaires should pay a wealth tax, and we should close tax loopholes that permit the rich to stash profits in tax havens.
  

"The tax code should be designed to work for ordinary people, not rigged to produce the world's first trillionaire," said Rebecca Riddell, Senior Policy Lead for Economic and Racial Justice at Oxfam America.

Do giant corporations pay their fair share?

While giant companies enjoyed record profits in recent years, many still pay lower tax rates than most working families. That’s in part because many take advantage of generous tax breaks and stash profits in tax havens around the world.

Here’s what we know:

• According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, 23 of the largest and most profitable companies in the US paid no federal corporate income taxes from 2018-2022. And 109 corporations paid zero federal tax in at least one of those years.
  
  
• The US government is estimated to have lost around $135 billion in revenue due to corporate tax avoidance in 2017. In contrast, corporate philanthropy has amounted to less than $20 billion a year.
  
  
• Corporations shifted nearly $1 trillion in global profits to tax havens in 2022—depriving countries all over the world of desperately needed tax revenue.
  

That’s not paying your fair share. Instead of only maximizing profits for their overwhelmingly rich, white shareholders, corporations should do more to support the employees, consumers, and community members that corporations rely upon to make their money.

So what should they pay and do?

• To reduce tax haven abuse and the offshoring of corporate profits, corporations should pay the same tax rate on their foreign profits as on their domestic profits, and all large multinational corporations should pay a global minimum tax rate.
  
  
• To end the secrecy that shrouds corporate tax dodging, corporations should publish key financial data like revenue, profits, and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis.

“We want an economy that works for everyone, not just for a small elite,” said former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich.

Who benefits from the Trump tax cuts?

President Trump and Congressional Republicans are proposing to slash taxes on mega-corporations and the ultrarich. The 2017 Trump tax plan amounted to an over $1 trillion giveaway to powerful corporations and the ultra-wealthy. New proposals to extend those tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy would drive inequality even further.

• According to the Penn Wharton Budget Model, Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" could give a tax handout of $390,000 to the richest 0.1 percent next year and take money out of the pockets of ordinary people.
  
  
• The bill has about $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, making the already vulnerable even more so.
  

That's not paying your fair share. Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy super-charged our inequality crisis once, and they’ll do it again.

What would the rich paying their fair share mean for ending poverty and injustice?

Taxing the rich would pay incredible dividends in ending poverty and injustice. Calculations from Oxfam found that a modest three percent tax on wealth over $1 billion would raise nearly $52 billion just from the 10 richest billionaires.

That kind of revenue would allow the US to invest in programs that:

• Protect the climate
• Lift children out of poverty
• Build infrastructure

All of these programs would provide big benefits for workers, caregivers, and communities of color—unlike corporate tax dodging, which largely just benefits a white, wealthy elite.

“It’s time for our nation’s billionaires and giant corporations to contribute their fair share of taxes to support the very people who have provided the labor that has allowed them to enjoy record profits and excess wealth,” said Gina Cummings, Oxfam America’s Vice-President of Advocacy, Alliances and Policy.

Conclusion

While people across the country are struggling to make ends meet, the Trump administration is pushing for massive tax giveaways to the ultra-rich and mega-corporations, all while pushing to slash vital programs—like childcare, education, healthcare, and more—that benefit everyone.

By increasing tax rates on the richest Americans, taxing billionaire wealth, and making corporations pay their fair share, we can ensure that the rich help protect the climate and lift children out of poverty. And it’s key to saving our democracy and solving our toughest global challenges.

Hundreds of thousands of people like you have joined Oxfam to demand the rich pay their fair share in taxes. Your voice in this fight matters, and when we join our voices together, our message becomes impossible to ignore.