Tell Congress: Pass the FATCAT Act

The rich drive climate change, but the poor suffer the consequences.

In all, the world’s wealthiest 10% contributed 6.5 times more than the average person to the global warming the planet experienced between 1990 and 2019. Meanwhile, the top 1% contributed 20 times more, and the top 0.1% contributed 76 times more. In 2018, the average American had a carbon footprint of about 15 tons. Meanwhile, based on a sample of twenty billionaires, the average billionaire's carbon footprint is 8,190 tons.

The wealthy’s frequent private jet usage is a big reason why their carbon footprints are so large. Research has found that private aircraft emit 10 times more pollutants per passenger compared to commercial planes and, in 2023, private jets emitted more pollution than all commercial flights that departed from London’s Heathrow Airport. Earlier this year, U.S. Senator Edward Markey (MA) and Representative Nydia Velázquez (NY-07) introduced the Fueling Alternative Transportation with a Carbon Aviation Tax (FATCAT) Act, which Patriotic Millionaires proudly endorsed. The legislation would increase fuel taxes for private jet travel from 22 cents to $2 per gallon and eliminate fuel tax exemptions for logging and oil and gas exploration. Not only would this discourage the use of private jet travel, but it would also rectify a significant injustice in the tax code, where private jet fliers contribute just 2% of the taxes that go to the trust fund that predominantly finances the Federal Aviation Administration.

The wealthy cannot continue ignoring their contributions to the climate problem and leaving millions of poor and vulnerable people worldwide to bear the brunt of it.