Walmart workers and taxpayers in Phoenix delivered a $7.8 billion tax bill to Rob Walton, Walmart Chairman, in reaction to the news that the country’s largest retailer and richest family received an estimated $7.8 billion in tax breaks and subsidies in 2013. A report released yesterday by Americans for Tax Fairness showed how Walmart and the Waltons dodged taxes, exploited loopholes and took advantage of taxpayer subsidies, while many of its workers were forced to rely on taxpayer-funded programs like food stamps and Medicaid.A report from the Americans For Tax Fairness found that Walmart and the Walton family receive $7.8 billion in tax breaks and taxpayer subsidies each year, and outraged taxpayers are demanding that Walmart pay up.
The taxpayers hand-delivered the bill to Walton’s home in Paradise Valley, outside Phoenix.
“Like most Americans, I work hard, pay my taxes and play by the rules. Why can’t America’s richest family do the same?” said Venanzi Luna, a Walmart worker who undersigned the bill. “Our economy is out of balance and workers are struggling because people like the Waltons don’t pay their fair share.”
Walmart made a $16 billion profit in 2013, and the six Walton heirs, who own more than 50 percent of Walmart shares, saw their wealth grow to $148.8 billion—more wealth than 49% of American families combined.
The table below from Americans For Tax Fairness shows how the Walton family is getting richer while you are footing the bill:
The next time repugicans talk about how America can’t afford veterans benefits, or to extend unemployment benefits, they need to be reminded that a simple solution is right in front of their eyes. If repugicans would close the Walmart tax loopholes, and raise the minimum wage so that Walmart workers didn’t have to rely on public assistance, the government would have tens of billions of more dollars.
Those low prices that Walmart advertises really aren’t that low. Taxpayers are picking up the tab, and when one factors in the billions that all Americans have to pay to subsidize Walmart’s profits those always low prices come at a very high cost to every American.
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