Americans for Tax Fairness is a project of the New Venture Fund that advocates for left-of-center tax policies. The organization claims to be a coalition comprised of 400 organizations. Americans for Tax Fairness advocates for higher tax rates for individuals, increased corporate taxes, and the repeal of tax breaks introduced by the George W. Bush administration and the Trump administration. ¹

Background

Americans for Tax Fairness describes itself as a campaign of more than 420 organizations that support left-of-center tax policy including higher tax rates and fewer tax exemptions for individuals and businesses. ²

Americans for Tax Fairness is related to the Americans for Tax Fairness Action Fund, a political advocacy organization. The Action Fund is sponsored by the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which functions as a major funder for left-of-center advocacy and lobbying organizations, while Americans for Tax Fairness is a project of the New Venture Fund. ² Both New Venture Fund and Sixteen Thirty Fund are nonprofit organizations managed by consulting firm Arabella Advisors. ³

Funding

Americans for Tax Fairness is a fiscally-sponsored project of the New Venture Fund, a nonprofit managed by the left-of-center, for-profit consultancy Arabella Advisors. As such, Americans for Tax Fairness does not file its own taxes, and donations to the project are collected and reported by the New Venture Fund. In 2017, the Tides Foundation donated $25,000 to the New Venture Fund in support of Americans for Tax Fairness. ⁴

Policies and Advocacy

Americans for Tax Fairness advocates for a range of left-of-center economic policies, including increasing taxes on higher-income Americans and businesses. ⁵ The organization also supports increased government spending on education, infrastructure, and social programs. ⁶

Americans for Tax Fairness has a history of attacking conservative tax policies. In 2017, the organization criticized the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, which reduced tax rates for most Americans and closed a number of tax loopholes. Americans for Tax Fairness issued a report which claimed that only 4.3 percent of workers were expected to get a one-time bonus from the new law. ⁷ In 2018, Americans for Tax Fairness continued its attack on the legislation, launching the website “Trump Tax Cut Truths.” The site provides a searchable database on the size of business tax cuts that resulted from the 2017 law.  ¹

Aside from criticizing right-of-center fiscal policy, Americans for Tax Fairness has taken several stances in opposition to business activity more broadly. Americans for Tax Fairness has criticized businesses in the wake of the 2017 tax cuts, alleging that corporations are spending 37 times more on stock buybacks than on wage increases or bonuses. The organization has also argued that more than 400 of the Fortune 500 companies did not announce bonuses or wage increases as a result of the tax breaks. ¹

In January 2019, the group urged House Democrats to make their top priority obtaining then-President Donald Trump’s personal income tax returns and releasing them to the public. The group claimed that Trump’s tax returns would provide the American public a guide into all the complex financial structures and tax loopholes of which the wealthy take advantage. Plus, the tax returns could be used to determine any conflicts of interest that Trump may have. ⁸

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Americans for Tax Fairness and the left-wing Institute for Policy Studies issued an analysis which claimed that the net worth of American billionaires had increased by $931 billion between March and October of 2020;⁹ observers criticized the analysis for comparing stock holdings at the market’s first-lockdown trough with its reopening peak. ¹⁰

In January 2021, Americans for Tax Fairness released a report detailing how the wealth of America’s 651 billionaires increased by over $1 trillion since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The group called for higher taxes on the wealthy and seemed to argue for confiscating the entirety of the billionaire wealth and using to give every American a $3,000 stimulus check. The group claimed it could raise $10 trillion over ten years based on raising taxes on billionaires. The group claimed that the accumulation of so much wealth in so few hands retards the growth of America. ¹¹

In March 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness joined with the Institute for Policy Studies to release a report attacking 35 businesses for paying their executives more than they paid in federal income taxes between 2018 and 2022. The report claimed that America’s fiscal crisis “threatens public services that working families rely on, and huge corporations that don’t pay their fair share of taxes are a big part of the problem.” The two groups accused corporations of tax dodging and using the money they should have paid in federal taxes to pay their executives. The report called for an increase in the corporate income tax, an increase of additional taxes on businesses, and the elimination of what it called “wasteful corporate subsidies.” ¹²

In March 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness supported a bill that would impose a wealth tax on all fortunes over $50 million. ¹³

In June 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness released a report attacking stock buybacks and corporate dividends as an attack on workers and the public. The group claimed that stockholder payouts were seven times larger than what corporations paid to the federal government. The group claimed that stockholder payouts “exacerbates economic inequality and promotes political instability, as increasingly frustrated American workers struggle to get by while wealthy stock investors surge ever further ahead.” The group claimed that the large stockholder payouts instead of the federal government collecting that money in taxes make public services suffer and the stockholder payouts lower worker wages and long-term business investment. The study relied on data from the left-of-center Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. The study concluded by praising the one percent tax on share repurchases that then-President Joe Biden and congressional Democrats passed and called for it to be increased to four percent. The group also called for the corporate income tax to be increased from 21 to 28 percent and for increases in the capital gains tax. ¹⁴

In July 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness released a report claiming that America’s 800 billionaires were worth a record $6 trillion and claimed that was the result of “24 years of a tax code rigged in their favor.” The group that “the failure to adequately tax the astronomical growth of billionaire wealth over the last quarter century has helped create this unprecedented concentration of financial power” and called for higher taxes on the wealthy. ¹⁵

In July 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness joined a coalition letter to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee to protect IRS enforcement funding. The letter claimed the increased appropriations to the IRS improved customer service and allowed the agency to focus on collecting back taxes from wealthy taxpayers. ¹⁶

In August 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness released a report rebutting what it called “misinformation” about the Billionaire Minimum Income Tax proposed by then-President Joe Biden. The group supported the proposal, which would require billionaires to pay a minimum 25 percent tax on all their income, to narrow income inequality, improve public services, and pay down public debt. ¹⁷

In August 2024, Americans for Tax Fairness released a fact sheet alleging that the “Opportunity Zones” tax break that encourages development in low-income areas of the country was a tax handout to wealthy investors. The group claimed the tax breaks did not help people living in the zones but instead accelerated gentrification and provided tax breaks for wealthy investors. ¹⁸

In January 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness joined with Accountable.US to release a report claiming that the top 10 corporations which made 46 percent of all corporate profits in the U.S. received the most tax breaks because of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. ¹⁹

In January 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness released a report alleging that corporations and wealthy people who contributed to then-President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration were doing it to receive tax advantages. ²⁰

In February 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness released a coalition letter supporting an increase of taxes. The letter claimed that extending tax cuts passed in 2017 would lead to cuts in “Medicaid, SNAP, other health care programs, public education, and other vital services that will increase costs and leave peoples’ wallets and economic safety net worse off now and for the next generation.” The group claimed the 2017 tax cuts has been a failure for the economy and none of the benefits have materialized for lower- and middle-income Americans. ²¹

In March 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness coordinated a letter to Democratic leaders in Congress with the Responsible Wealth Project and Voices for Progress by more than 300 wealthy people urging tax increases on wealthy taxpayers. The two most high-profile signatories were left-of-center activist Abigail Disney and Jeffrey Hollender, the co-founder and CEO of Seventh Generation, a natural products business known for its left-wing friendly business practices, and the CEO and co-founder of the left-of-center American Sustainable Business Network. The letter read, “These cuts aren’t just unnecessary; they’re cruel, prioritizing handouts to the wealthiest households over the well-being of those who need help the most.” ²²

In March 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness claimed that illegal immigrants paid a higher effective tax rate than 55 large corporations and several of the nation’s wealthiest individuals. The report also claimed that illegal immigrants received less in benefits than corporate subsidies. ²³

In March 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness opposed the Republican-controlled Congress passing a Continuing Resolution which kept the federal government open claiming that it cut IRS enforcement. The group blasted the CR as “gutting public services and transferring money from everyday Americans into the pockets of billionaires.” ²⁴

As of 2025, Americans for Tax Fairness was listed as one of the partner organizations for Families Over Billionaires, an activist group formed in January 2025 following the reelection of President Donald Trump that opposes what it claims are “tax breaks for the rich” under the Second Trump Administration. ²⁵ Other listed partners include the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Caring Across Generations, Economic Security Project Action, Fair Share America, Indivisible, MomsRising, the National Education Association (NEA), the National Women’s Law Center, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), and Unrig Our Economy. ²⁶

Leadership

The leaders of Americans for Tax Policy have close connections to the left-of-center organizing community. Lawrence Mishel is one of three co-chairs of Americans for Tax Fairness. Mishel has worked as president of the left-of-center labor-union-aligned Economic Policy Institute since 2002. He has also co-authored 12 editions of The State of Working America, a book on the economic conditions of working-class Americans that has been praised by controversial left-of-center economist and Clinton administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich. ²

Edwin Jayne is another co-chair of Americans for Tax Fairness. Jayne is associated with left-of-center labor organizing, working as the associate director of federal government affairs for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). ²

Margarida Jorge is yet another co-chair of the organization. Jorge has worked on left-of-center issue campaigns for two decades, working as national field director at Health Care for America Now. ²

Deborah Weinstein was a co-chair of the group as of 2025. Weinstein is the executive director of the left-of-center group Coalition on Human Needs. ²⁷

As of 2025, David Kass was the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness and was hired to the role in April 2023. He was previously the president of the left-leaning Council for a Strong America. Before that, he was the vice president for government affairs and legal resources at Council on Foundations. ²⁸

Frank Clemente became the executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness in 2012. Clemente previously worked as campaign manager for the Strengthen Social Security Campaign. He also managed a campaign for the Communications Workers of America in support of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Clemente was a senior policy advisor to the U.S. House Committee on Government Operations and previously worked as the issues director for left-wing activist Jesse Jackson’s 1988 presidential campaign. ² He departed the group in 2023. ²⁸

Andrea Haverdink is the previous digital director for Americans for Tax Fairness. Haverdink previously worked as an associate producer for Mike Lux Media, a firm associated with Democracy Partners. ²

John Foti is the deputy executive director and legislative director of Americans for Tax Fairness. He previously worked for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). ²⁷

Mark Rickling is the former policy and legislative director for Americans for Tax Fairness. Prior to joining the organization, Rickling worked with left-of-center labor unions including United Food and Commercial Workers and the Service Employees International Union. ² Craig Johnson, senior digital strategy director of Americans for Tax Fairness, has also worked in labor organizing, previously working with the Alliance for Retired Americans. ²

Arianna Fano is a former research and policy associate with Americans for Tax Fairness. She previously worked at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-of-center policy think tank. ²

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