Demand Progress

Corporations kept claiming that so-called inflation forced them to raise prices at the grocery store, drugstore, and everywhere else. But it’s corporate greed and record corporate profits that are keeping prices high — CEOs don’t want to lose out on their ever-increasing salaries and bonuses.

A new report shows that increased corporate profits are a major driver keeping costs high. Costs for consumers are STILL up 3.4% despite the cost of production being up only 1%.¹

Congress needs to step in and punish corporations for price gouging. We need a Windfall Profits tax now to take profits back and put them to work for all Americans, not just wealthy CEOs.

Sign the petition: Congress must pass a Windfall Profits tax to hold corporations accountable for price gouging.

Here’s just one example of the corporate price gouging: Diaper prices have gone up 30% since 2019 — and prices have remained sky-high even when production costs dropped. And it just so happens that two companies control 70% of the market-share for selling diapers in America.² Why would the CEO of Procter & Gamble want to lower the price of diapers when corporate profits are soaring?

That’s why we need Congress to step in, control corporate greed and pass a Windfall Profits Tax. This measure would place a 95% tax on a company’s profits that are in excess of their average profit level from 2015-2019³ — ensuring that companies aren’t taking advantage of the pandemic and price gouging to reap record profits now.

This proposal — championed by Senator Bernie Sanders and President Biden — would go a long way toward undoing the rapidly-increasing expenses that families are paying in the wake of the pandemic.

Sign the petition and demand that Congress pass a windfall profits tax to curb reckless and rampant price-gouging across the country.

Sources:

1. The Guardian, "Half of recent US inflation due to high corporate profits, report finds," January 19, 2024.
2. Ibid.
3. Office of Senator Bernie Sanders, “NEWS: Sanders Introduces Legislation to Reinstate the WWII Windfall Profit Tax to Combat Rising Inequality, Inflation, and Corporate Profiteering,” March 25, 2022.