When I got my first job at the Franklin Institute, earning $7.25 an hour, I realized how deeply the system was designed to keep working families poor. Washington tells us workers pay too little in taxes, yet when the ultra-rich get permanent tax breaks, it’s branded as “economic growth.” While working families are told to wait for prosperity to “trickle down,” our wages stagnate, productivity soars, and the cost of living explodes.

For years, Democrats have promised to make corporations “pay their fair share,” yet through multiple administrations, we have consistently failed to deliver serious reform. That establishment failure, the backroom deals, and the sellout to wealthy donors, is why I am proposing policies that give politicians no room to hide and no excuses left to stall progress. I will fight for a system that finally puts workers ahead of corporate interests: I will lower taxes for working families, raise the corporate tax rate, and add an increase on incomes over $1 million a year. I will also push to raise the federal minimum wage, ensuring that work pays enough to live with dignity.

A Better Partnership, Not a False Divide

We must be able to build a better partnership between working people, small business owners, and those who have achieved success in our communities. We cannot govern by penalizing or demonizing people simply for striving for the American Dream or for achieving it. In many neighborhoods, the people who have “made it” are the same ones donating to local nonprofits, supporting performing arts centers, funding youth programs, and investing in the values that strengthen our communities.

Conditional Bailouts for Corporations

If a corporation has a market cap over $20 billion and still requires a federal bailout, taxpayers should not be left holding the bill. Any corporation receiving federal rescue funding must be required to pay it back, with interest, within 5 to 10 years. For too long, we’ve accepted an economic system where corporations are deemed “too big to fail,” yet working families are treated as disposable. Executives cannot keep gambling with our economy while placing all the risk on the public. If Wall Street gets a lifeline, Main Street deserves full repayment.

AI and Automation

AI and automation are transforming our economy, but they should not eliminate livelihoods just to boost shareholder profits. If a company eliminates large portions of its workforce in favor of automation, their corporate tax rate must automatically increase. We cannot allow tech billionaires like Elon Musk to openly lobby for taxpayers to subsidize the technology that replaces the very workers funding it. Innovation must improve lives, and if corporations profit from sacrificing the American workforce, they must contribute substantially more back into the system that funds unemployment insurance, Social Security, health care, and retraining programs.