CHN’s Human Needs Watch: How Much Will We Have to Pay the Ultra-Wealthy?
The House of Representatives passed a budget resolution on February 26 that would pay out $4.5 trillion in tax breaks over a decade, with the largest share going to the wealthiest. Who would pay for that? We do – in lost or more expensive health coverage, lost nutrition assistance, higher state taxes or reduced state services, and more costly student loans. But as steep as these costs are, that’s not all we’ll pay. If the Trump/Musk autocracy succeeds, we will pay in exorbitant bank and credit card fees, in lower wages because discrimination is unchecked, and in more sickness and injury from poorly regulated medicines, medical devices, and pollution, as federal protectors are decimated. All of those losses for most of us pay directly into higher profits and lower costs for corporations. You can send a message to Congress opposing cuts to health care and nutrition to pay for tax cut for the rich – just click here.
$252,300 |
This year, the richest one-tenth of one percent, with net worth of over $22 million each, gained $252,300 from the Trump tax breaks enacted in 2017, and that the House just voted to extend for another decade.
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$1.1 trillion |
That’s the 10-year cost of extending the 2017 tax breaks for the richest 1 percent. Who pays? It’s also the amount the House budget would cut from Medicaid and SNAP nutrition funds.
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$880 billion |
The House budget resolution would require at least $880 billion over 10 years to be cut from programs including Medicaid, Medicare, and the Affordable Care Act.
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21 million or more |
The huge health care cuts assumed the House budget would punish millions of people. One possible cut would eliminate the extra payments the federal government now makes to cover more working adults in Medicaid; eliminating those payments would cut $560 billion. If states did not pick up the cost, 21 million people would lose Medicaid.
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$6.40, down to $5 |
SNAP nutrition benefits will average only $6.40 per person per day in FY26 (they’re closer to $6 this year). But to cut $230 billion from SNAP over 10 years, as the House budget would require, the daily amount per person would drop to $5.00 in FY26. Can you eat a nutritious diet on $5/day? Would you choose to cut $230 billion from SNAP in order to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy?
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34%;
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Cuts to Medicaid would drastically reduce federal funds to states. In FY24, on average, 34.3 percent of state expenditures came from federal funds, and of those funds, more than half were for Medicaid. Faced with loss of billions of dollars while still having to balance their budgets, most states would reduce or terminate benefits for people relying on Medicaid.
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13 = $610 billion;
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In 2024, 13 drug companies with products selected for price negotiation by Medicare reported $610 billion in earnings. These huge profits come from overall prices that are three times higher for U.S. patients than for patients in other high-income countries. Payments like these to ultra-wealthy drug companies will get higher if drug negotiations are deep-sixed and FDA regulators fired.
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$127-$150 billion |
The House budget resolution calls for $330 billion to be cut from education or child nutrition programs. One likely cut would come from student loan payment plans. The SAVE plan reduces costs for borrowers, and would allow loan forgiveness for up to $12,000 in student debt in 10 years. Eliminating SAVE would cut $127 billion – $150 billion. That is, borrowers pay more so the ultra-wealthy can have more tax breaks.
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$19.7 billion |
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has saved consumers $19.7 billion as of January, 2025, protecting them from exorbitant fees, interest rates, or fraudulent practices. But the Trump administration is dismantling CFPB, preventing its work from going forward, terminating staff, and even ending the lease on its building.
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-Half;
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The Department of Housing and Urban Development is slated by the Trump administration to lose half of its staff; the HUD Office of Community Planning and Development, which serves homeless people and provides disaster relief, will lose 84 percent of its staff. Homelessness rose a record-breaking 18 percent last year.
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