Toolkit: How Billionaires
Game The System
-
Recently, Ohio was named an “emerging enabler” of billionaires and wealth inequality. [News 5, 10/2022] Billionaires are bankrolling politicians to rig the rules to make them even richer. They’re draining our schools and communities of resources through kickbacks and handouts. They’ve rolled back protections for workers, the environment and consumers and held down wages for the hardworking Ohioans who make them rich.
This toolkit offers timely messaging guidance, key talking points, digital assets, and the latest updates to inform our communities on how billionaires are gaming the system in Ohio.
-
(This is the underlying story behind our messaging. Adapt it however works best for you! We used research from ASO, Winning Jobs Narrative and Working Families Party to craft this example)
VALUES: Ohio’s workers helped build this country. Working hard to provide for our families and contribute to our communities is just part of who we are.
VILLAINS: Today, Ohio Republicans have rigged the rules in favor of the billionaires who back them and against the rest of us - making them even richer by holding down our wages, driving up our costs, and lining their pockets with money that should be funding our schools and strengthening our communities.
VISION: Ohioans have come together to raise wages and protect our right to join together in union. There is enough for ALL Ohioans to live good lives. Let’s rewrite the rules so that billionaires pay what they actually owe to our communities, and to the working people who create their wealth.
-
Lead with values: Ohio is a state with strong blue collar roots. We value hard work and being good neighbors.
Center working people. The economy should reward hard work, not wealth hoarding. Research shows the effectiveness of messages that make working people the heroes.Stress that everyone should play by the same rules and pay their fair share.
Lean into lived experience. Frame messages around the day-to-day struggles families feel: groceries, gas, rent, debt.
Name the villains. Billionaires and the politicians they back have rigged the tax code, held down wages, and jacked up prices.
-
While Ohioans struggle to pay their bills, the richest Americans keep getting richer. A new data analysis found that the 15 richest Americans got one third richer in 2025. Meanwhile, the typical family of four in Ohio saw its income increase less than 6% in part of 2025. [OCJ, 01/2026]
Trump’s “Big Ugly Bill” is taking money away from the rest of us to line the pockets of the very richest Americans. The bill made the 2017 tax cuts permanent, adding $4.1 trillion to the federal debt by 2035, while providing $1 trillion in benefits to the richest 1% of Americans over the same period. [ITEP, 07/2025]
While many of us are barely getting by, the five richest Ohioans are worth almost $30 BILLION combined. We need to elect leaders who work for us, not their billionaire friends and backers. [Stacker, 04/2026]
Working families built Ohio and keep it running. But today we can’t afford to pay our bills. Every year, corporations rake in record profits, but we don’t get to share in the wealth our work creates. That’s no accident — it’s a deliberate choice made by billionaires, CEOs, and their bought-off politicians. They’ve rigged the system and attacked our most vulnerable communities. [WFP]
-
SOUND THE ALARM:
Share the truth: Trump and his MAGA cronies are giving tax breaks to the rich while the rest of us can't afford our basic needs.
Use your voice to call out the lies, highlight the stakes, and demand action so everyone pays their fair share.
WRITE & SPEAK OUT:
Publish op-eds or letters to the editor telling them how our current systems are affecting you and your family, while favoring the wealthy.
-
-