On Tax Day, Billionaires & Large Corporations Not Paying What They Owe Drives Plans for Next National Day of Protest on May 1st

Thousands of Events Planned Nationwide for “Workers Over Billionaires” Day of Action as States Push Millionaire Taxes and a Real Affordability Agenda

*Interviews Available FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

April 15th, 2026

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Washington, D.C. — On this tax day, Americans are drawing attention to billionaires and corporations that pay little in taxes but drive up costs for everyone else.  Building on the successful No Kings rallies March 28, unions, community organizations, and  families across the country are planning the next day of protest on May 1 as part of the May Day Strong initiative.  

Across the country, an affordability crisis is accelerating at kitchen tables and in checkout lines. Families are making daily tradeoffs, skipping care, buying less food, falling behind on bills, just to get through the month. The basics of a good life — an affordable home, quality healthcare, nutritious food, a dignified job, and beyond — are increasingly out of reach for millions of Americans. At the same time, big corporations and the super-rich are posting record profits, protected by rules that work for them while shifting higher costs onto everyone else. What working people pay more for, those at the top profit from. This crisis has hit Black and brown communities and working families most of all. None of this is an accident: it is the result of a system that has prioritized private profit over public well-being.

As a result, people nationwide are planning to take action on May Day to challenge billionaires and large corporations not paying what they owe  while raising the cost of living for working people, paying less in wages and contributing to inflation tripling.  

"We will no longer tolerate the lie that there isn't enough to go around," said 50501 Spokesperson and Orlando 50501 Lead Organizer Corey Hill. "This country has more than enough money for everyone to lead a life of dignity and prosperity if we put the needs of the majority before the greed of the few. We're demanding that billionaires pay their fair share."

"Across the country, educators and parents are standing up to the extreme overreach of Donald Trump. His administration has attacked our students, undermined public schools, and used tactics like deploying ICE to intimidate and traumatize our communities," said NEA President Becky Pringle. "In rural, suburban, and urban communities alike, people of all races and backgrounds are coming together to say, ‘Enough!'”

“We are organizing for a country that puts workers over billionaires,” said Neidi Dominguez, Executive Director of Organized Power in Numbers. “We want our tax dollars going to good jobs, schools, and housing, not to sending federal agents into our cities to attack our neighbors. We want a government that puts more into community benefits and less into billionaire bank accounts. We are for one job being enough to pay the bills, for housing people can afford, and for public schools and health care that work for working families, not piggy banks for the ultra-rich to steal from.”

“This administration has pushed hundreds of thousands of Black women out of the workforce, reversed civil rights, and is seeking to end democracy as we know it.. We are who educate children, make our communities safer, and make this country run. And when billionaires aren’t made to pay what they owe, it hurts everyone,” said Stacy Davis Gates, President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union. “Not taxing the ultra-rich leaves schools without teachers, libraries without books, unsafe bridges, shuttered hospitals, and the rest of us paying more. We want a different future where students and communities have what they need. It’s going to take all of us organizing together to make that happen.” 

May Day Strong organizers are preparing for a national day of action that is expected to exceed the more than 1,500 May 1 protests rallies in 2025. The national interest in May Day events is directly tied to anger about rising costs and now corporations profiting off of the war in Iran. 

Nationally, more than 100 bills have been introduced in statehouses across the country to tax the ultra-rich to fund schools and services. As part of their “Real Affordability Agenda,” May Day Strong leaders are putting forward an affirmative vision for a country that puts working people first and planning protests to stand up to the billionaire agenda. 

“There’s a reason why there are so many efforts to tax the rich, people see how unfair everything is for working people,” said Saqib Bhatti, executive director of Action Center on Race & the Economy. “Our government is taking the budgets from schools, health care, and social services and using them to fund illegal wars and billionaire tax breaks. People are fed up and not going to take it any more.” 

New events for the national day of action are added daily: https://maydaystrong.org/. 

50501 is a non-violent, grassroots movement that organizes mass protests and mutual aid to defend democracy against fascism. To find more information about 50501, visit our website at fiftyfifty.one.

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