In one of the most memorable
Scenes from the Scorcese mob classic GoodfellasJimmy scolds his co-conspirators for flaunting the loot from their infamous Lufthansa heist – the theft of $6 million in cash and jewels from New York’s JFK airport in 1978.

“Didn’t I tell you not to buy anything?” Jimmy snaps at Johnny, who had come to the Christmas party in a new pink Cadillac. Moments later, Frank enters with a companion wearing a new mink coat, and Jimmy is outraged. “In two days, one will have a Caddy and the other a $20,000 mink coat!”

The mob logic presented here—that when a big hit is made, it’s best to keep a low profile and avoid attracting attention—seems harmless when you consider the Trump administration’s signature heist: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017. That law paved the way for corporate America’s “mink coat and Cadillac moment” by cutting the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%—taking some $1.3 trillion from the public and making billionaires and top executives even richer. Goodfellas Adjusted for inflation, that’s the equivalent of 46,428 attacks on Lufthansa. And like Johnny and Frank, the companies that made the biggest profits have since done the opposite of restraint. Instead, they have spent years indulging in profiteering, using some of the most outrageous tactics to make even more money.

In typical trickle-down fashion, the corporate tax cut was sold as a boon for workers and ordinary families. The Trump administration
said The most expensive provision of the TCJA would increase wages by $4,000 per year. As it turned out, that promise was a fraud. According to a current study90% of American workers received zero dollars from the TCJA corporate tax cut. Meanwhile, executive salaries soared and stock buybacks reached a Record high of $1 trillion in the year following its adoption.

So what did the typical American family get if not a big increase in income? Junk fees,
fraudulent scams in the grocery business, price gouging and major collusion scandals in all areas of Meat packaging to rentals to Oil and GasIt can be said that the TCJA is a biggest hits from predatory tactics by rewarding otherwise risky pricing that drives customer loyalty to extremes. Lower taxes and record profits also mean more money to buy lobbying power in Washington to push through more tax cuts. In this way, our dangerous low-tax environment exposes us all to the worst and riskiest corporate behavior.

Higher corporate taxes mean fewer opportunities to hoard profits and rip off consumers and more opportunities to invest in health care, child care, education and jobs – things that have been proven to improve quality of life and democratize economic opportunity.

According to a February
study According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), 342 profitable companies paid an effective tax rate of 14.1% from 2018 to 2022, well below the 21% that the Trump administration had enacted into law. The TCJA, which followed decades of corporate tax cuts, put the U.S. at the top Last in the OECD in terms of corporate revenue as a share of the economy. And the Republicans are ready to go even further if former US President Donald Trump recaptures the White House.

A
current analysis of CAP Action found that Trump’s plan to cut the corporate tax rate even further to 15% would give the 100 largest U.S. companies an additional $48 billion each year. That means even more room to test the next wave of rip-off schemes needed to keep investors happy. Whether it’s major credit card companies, Jacking up APRs even further, Amazon running more casino-like pricing experiments or Tyson Foods Provide More algorithms supposedly controlling meat prices and lower taxes provide a pleasant incentive for profiteering at the expense of consumers.

Raising the corporate tax rate won’t solve all the problems in the American economy. But it will fundamentally change the economic rules. A higher corporate tax rate means fewer opportunities to hoard profits and rip off consumers, and more opportunities to invest in health care, child care, education, and jobs – things that have been proven to improve quality of life and democratize economic opportunity.

Since the Trump tax cuts, the largest corporations have been flaunting their record profits like caddies and minks and boasting about
Conference calls on quarterly results about the new tricks They use these funds to raise prices for consumers. The era of tax evasion must end if we are to stop it. Now is the time to put an end to it.