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Press Briefing: 2026 Legislative Session to be Defined by “Tax the Rich” Policy Push

  • Writer: IFT
    IFT
  • 45 minutes ago
  • 2 min read

Advocates to Send Letters to 50 Governors as Multiple States Anticipate Proposals Countering Trump Cuts by Fixing Tax Code at the Local Level


IFT and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates Will Speak at the Briefing


What: Virtual Press Briefing

When: Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026

2:00 p.m. CST


Speakers Include:

  • Stacy Davis Gates, President, Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers

  • Charles Khan, Strong Economy for All

  • Max Page, President, Massachusetts Teachers Association

  • Rev. Scott Marks, Director of New Haven Rising

  • Nikki Woodward, Maryland Education Association Vice President

  • Liz Perlman, Executive Director AFSCME 3299 (California)

  • Vonda McDaniels, Nashville Central Labor Council President

  • Aftyn Behn, Tennessee State Representative

  • Alexis Goldstein, Technologist, NTEU 335 (Maryland)

  • Steve Paul, Executive Director of ONE Pennsylvania

  • Brahvan Ranga, Director Invest In Our NY

  • Kenneth Russel, Junior at Southeastern High School in Detroit, 482Forward


Advocates will hold a press briefing outlining their push for new state-level policy nationwide in response to the Trump administration enacting what analysts have called the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history. The legislation delivers more than massive tax cuts for the top 5% over the next decade while cutting more than $1 trillion from SNAP, Medicaid, and other programs working families rely on.


Speakers will release a letter being sent to all 50 governors demanding they take action to counter Trump cuts and follow examples like what is being proposed in Rhode Island, Michigan, and other states similar to what has passed in Massachusetts where a millionaire tax has generated at least $5.7 billion in revenue since 2023 to pay for schools, public transit, and infrastructure. The President’s tax breaks for billionaires and recent cuts to health care, community schools, and public transit make it urgent for governors to provide leadership and champion policy that recoups those public dollars and reinvests it in public services to protect their residents.


Without closing tax loopholes that favor the ultra-wealthy at the local level, Trump’s cuts will push states into funding crisis across the country. On Thursday, a cross-section of state voices will share plans to move governors and state legislatures to prepare budgets that created fairness in their tax code and have those who can obviously afford it to share more as has been done in Massachusetts in order to counter Trump cuts and provide what communities need to build more inclusive, affordable, and resilient states for working families.


Multiple states are already anticipating such legislation, with more expected in the weeks to come.


The participants will release their letters to governors just weeks before a convening to be held at the end of January where hundreds of community and labor representatives from more than 20 states will attend to identify legislative language, campaign strategy, and develop coordinated plans to put working families over billionaires in their home states.


The Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) represents 105,000 teachers and paraprofessionals in PreK-12 school districts throughout Illinois, faculty and staff at Illinois’ community colleges and universities, public employees under every statewide elected constitutional officer, and retirees.

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