16-state tour hosted North Carolina town hall on the harm to working people, and how fairer taxes could fund priorities that help all people thrive (not just billionaires)

Raleigh, North Carolina (August 2, 2025) – This afternoon, Fair Share America, Unrig our Economy, and state partners brought the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaways” national bus tour to Raleigh, holding a town hall on how the new budget and tax bill will harm working people and families.

The 45-foot tour bus, wrapped in a giant trillion-dollar bill, brought together local leaders and community members for a town hall to lift up personal stories of citizens, highlight the harms, and hold North Carolina’s lawmakers accountable for their votes for the devastating law.

To request video or photos from the event or to set up an interview, please contact kristin@fairshareusa.org.

Kristen Crowell, Executive Director of Fair Share America:

“The decision to cut essential services and then turn around and give a trillion dollars in tax cuts to the rich was a choice. It did not have to be this way. It was a choice by lawmakers to put billionaires over families. We're going to continue to hold the people accountable who abandoned their communities to side with the billionaire class and did not have a spine....

“We're presenting a different vision that there is something possible that is better than what today looks like, and frankly, it's better than where we came from. We have to chart that path towards tax fairness that allows us to fund the priorities that help all of us to thrive. That's what we're here to talk about today."

Dr. Ray Geherty, a nephrologist practicing in Raleigh:

“Taking away Medicaid means that patients will delay their preventive care and necessary screenings that can detect illnesses early. We're backing them into a corner, making them feel like they need to wait until their manageable medical condition becomes an emergency where they need to go to the emergency department to see a doctor....

“This is the difference between catching something that we can treat and manage and something that's too far gone. This is going to lead to people dying because they haven't gotten their preventive care and their diseases have progressed too far. Slashing Medicaid threatens everyone's health and well being, and many will be left with irreparably worse health because of this law.”

Ken Krebs, a scientist, government worker, and member of the American Federation of Government Employees Union

"I find hope in people showing up to events like this, realizing the enormity of the problem that we're facing right now, and my union work has convinced me that organize, organize, organize. That's what we need to do. That's why I'm here."

Heba Atwa, NC Budget & Tax Center

"We hear a lot from legislative leaders that support these tax cuts for billionaires that this [policy] is about helping growth. But growth for who exactly, and what kind of growth? We know that businesses that provide good jobs want to be in a state that invests in its workforce -- in public education, in workforce training, in childcare for employees. But this federal budget reconciliation law would cost North Carolina billions of dollars."

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Learn more about the “Stop the Billionaire Giveaways” bus tour online and on social media: @FairShare_USAon X and @FairShareAmerica (FB, IG, BS, Threads, TikTok).