April 23, 2025

Washington, DC - Boston Globe deputy Washington bureau chief Tal Kopan covered Fair Share America in a feature piece this week, examining our work to build on the success of the Massachusetts 'millionaires tax' campaign and take that model national. Kopan spoke with Fair Share America executive director Kristen Crowell about the work underway at FSA to "wage a broader campaign to transform the way taxes are viewed politically in this country."

Excerpts below. Read the full piece in The Boston Globe.

"They helped pass the Massachusetts ‘millionaires tax.’ Now they want to take their strategy national."

By Tal Kopan,

April 20, 2025

When Massachusetts voters in 2022 approved the so-called “millionaires tax” to raise rates on the ultra-wealthy, it was a watershed moment for taxation, not just in the Commonwealth but nationwide. Now, some of the leaders behind that successful effort are hoping to replicate that strategy at the federal level...

Kristen Crowell, executive director of the organizing group Fair Share America and a key leader from the “millionaires tax” campaign said this year’s fight was as much about being able to effectively communicate the issue with voters as it was about stopping the actual bill.

“Yes, [Republicans] have a trifecta, they will likely be able to do what they want to do, [but] if we don’t fight this fight and come out stronger and more galvanized and clear about the tax code being the terrain we need to fight these fights on — to me, that is the opportunity,” Crowell said...

Crowell and her partners are hoping to apply the lessons of Massachusetts to fight that bill and the tax cut extension.

Those who worked on the campaign for the “millionaires tax,” a 4 percent surtax on income earned over $1 million, list a few keys to success. One was raising a lot of money — they actually out-raised the pro-business opponents of the bill, $27 million to $14 million — to get their campaign up on the air early and through Election Day. Another was connecting the tax fight to people’s lives, to better schools, transportation and roads and bridges. The tax has already generated billions of dollars revenue beyond projections and is being put toward the MBTA and free community college, wins the group now touts as proof of their success. And they talked about the need for fairness, emphasizing that it was about ensuring the very wealthiest pay their share, not raising taxes for low- and middle-income people.

The strategy was already in action earlier this month in Washington. A slate of Democratic lawmakers including Revere Representative Katherine Clark, the second highest-ranking Democrat in the House, addressed a rally organized by Fair Share and its partners. As bundled-up rally-goers waved signs like “No Tax cuts for billionaires” and “protect Medicaid,” Clark led them in chanting “hell no” to the idea of slashing entitlements and lowering taxes for the wealthy.

Read the full piece in The Boston Globe.

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