The Payback Campaign is a left-of-center campaign that advocates for allowing the Trump administration-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 to expire in 2025. Additionally, it advocates in favor of increasing the U.S corporate tax rate. ^{1 2 3} According to the Washington DC corporate registry, as of April 2024, The Payback was filed as registered trade name of the Sixteen Thirty Fund, meaning that the organization is a fiscally sponsored project.

The Payback Campaign has previously criticized the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act, claiming it led to a lack of wage increases, caused an increase in wealth disparities, and for enacting corporate tax cuts it believes does not benefit workers. It also claims that the U.S. government has embraced “failed trickle-down policies” for decades. ⁴

Background

The Payback Campaign was founded in 2024 and advocates in support of allowing the Trump administration-backed Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 to expire in 2025. ¹

The Payback Campaign also advocates in favor of new tax policies that would increase the tax rates of higher-income individuals. It claims that the TCJA has increased inflation since its creation, and that increasing taxes will help address issues on race, the environment, and supporting “democratic institutions.” ¹

Advocacy

In July 2024, The Payback Campaign published a rewritten version of Vice President Mike Pence and former U.S. Senator Pat Toomey’s (R-PA) Wall Street Journal op-ed, “If Republicans Don’t Win, Get Ready for a Tax Hike.” The rewrite claimed the op-ed is “riddled with inaccuracies” regarding the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including revisions that erase support for ideas that tax cuts have economic benefits while adding claims that that tax cuts are detrimental to the economy and unjustly benefit billionaires while also slowing wage growth. ⁵

The Payback Campaign publishes infographics claiming it is false to believe that the reduction of corporate tax rates will result in wage increases. The group also criticized increases in total value of businesses while arguing that public spending is responsible for wage increases. ⁶ They further claim that reducing corporate tax rates are responsible for a “price-gouging epidemic,” arguing that lower tax rates incentivize increasing profits. ⁷

The Payback Campaign infographics advocate that that the TCJA increasing economic growth in untrue, and instead it is the Obama Administration’s economic policies that were responsible for the economic growth following the passing of the TCJA. ⁷

In May 2024, Payback Campaign’s director, Igor Volsky, released a press statement condemning the belief that cuts to the corporate tax rate are more favorable towards economic growth. He called this idea “disingenuous” and claimed that the cuts exclusively benefit billionaires and company executives. The release also blames companies as being the cause of inflation. ⁸

In June 2024, The Payback Campaign published a press release endorsing U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren’s (D-MA) initiative within the Democratic Party to support tax increases as a means of funding social programs while requiring taxpayer-funded programs to contract with labor unions. ^{3 2}

Leadership

Igor Volsky is the director of The Payback Campaign and executive director of Groundwork Action, where he began in May 2023. ¹ From 2018 to 2023, Volsky worked as founder and executive director of Guns Down America, and from 2016 to 2018, he was vice president of the Center for American Progress. ⁹

1. “Progressive Tax Advocates Launch ‘The Payback’: It’s Time To End The Trump Tax Scam And Get Our Money Back.” The Payback Campaign, May 22, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/338/Payback-Campaign-Launch-Press-Release.pdf.
2. “Senator Elizabeth Warren on Tax Policy.” C-Span, June 17, 2024. https://www.c-span.org/video/?536449-1%2Fsenator-elizabeth-warren-tax-policy.
3. “Progressive Lawmakers Should Ask Their Colleagues: Will You Side With Working Families or Corporate Interests?” The Payback Campaign, June 17, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/338/06172024_Warren-Tax-Speech_Statement.pdf.
4. “The Payback Campaign.” The Payback Campaign, June 27, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/.
5. “The Payback Campaign Slams New Pence and Toomey WSJ Op-Ed For Rewriting History on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” The Payback Campaign, July 26, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/338/07262024_Payback-Slams-New-Pence_Toomey-Op-ed.pdf.
6. Meserve, Jack. “The Fruits of the American Rescue Plan.” Democracy Journal, March 13, 2024. https://democracyjournal.org/magazine/72/the-fruits-of-the-american-rescue-plan/.
7. “Get the Facts: How Lowering the Corporate Tax Rate Harms American Workers.” The Payback Campaign. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/338/The-Payback_Corporate-Tax-Rate-Fact-Sheet.pdf.
8. “The Payback Campaign Debunks Argument That the Trump Tax Scam Was ‘Pro-Growth.’” The Payback Campaign, May 23, 2024. https://www.thepaybackcampaign.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/338/20240523_Statement_Brady_Moore-Rebuttal.pdf.
9. “Igor Volsky.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 15, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/igor-volsky-239a939