Posts Categorized: Reports

A recent analysis by Making Change at Walmart (MCAW) has found that the Walton family, the majority owners of Walmart, Inc., netted an estimated $1.1 million every day for the past 16 years, totaling over $6.5 billion, in dividend income tax savings just on their Walmart share holdings.

This billion-dollar savings is a result of a series of “tax reforms” passed by Congress during the Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations. The level of tax savings reflects not only a broken tax system that has been exploited by the Walton family, but shows the indifference the largest Walmart shareholders have to the economic plight facing tens of thousands of Walmart workers who depend on taxpayer-funded government assistance and programs.

“It should anger working and middle class Americans of all political backgrounds that they pay taxes while the Walton family reaps the rewards of a $6 billion-dollar tax break,” said Amy Ritter, communications director for MCAW. “It is time Americans know that the Walton family, the wealthiest family in the world, is being subsidized by tax cuts even as many Walmart workers live paycheck-to-paycheck with jobs that have few benefits. It is time for our political leaders to wake up to the reality that our broken tax system is helping the least deserving and hurting the most deserving.”

The full analysis is available here.

A rapidly changing, knowledge-based economy is influencing the way U.S. workers are looking at training and job security, according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

The report, titled The State of American Jobs, shows that occupations requiring skills and education has increased by 68 percent since 1980. American workers are well aware of shifting economic trends, and believe they will need continuous training to keep pace with a rise in jobs requiring social and analytical skills. According to the report, about 63 percent of Americans believe they have less job security than they did decades ago due to several factors, including an increased outsourcing of jobs and imports of foreign products; an increased use of temporary or contract workers; and the decline of union membership.

The report was conducted in association with the Markle Foundation, and was based on a national survey conducted among 5,006 U.S. adults between May 25 and June 29, 2016. A full copy of the report can be found here.