Missouri State Representative Raychel Proudie (D–District 73) delivered a blistering critique on the House floor this week.
She accused her colleagues of prioritizing the wealthy with a new capital gains tax break while ignoring the daily struggles of working-class families in districts like hers.
“How dare y’all,” Proudie said, launching into a passionate defense of the people she represents in North St. Louis County — many of whom she says are more concerned about rising food costs, emergency room visits for primary care, and affording feminine hygiene products than about tax cuts for asset sales.
The legislation in question includes a major tax break on capital gains — income earned from the sale of stocks, real estate, and other investments — a benefit typically reserved for wealthier individuals. Proudie argued that the bill, though coupled with minor tax relief for low-income residents, only gained momentum once it became advantageous to the rich.
“I’ve been in here for seven years, and now all of a sudden we care enough about people who own Social Security and poor folks… only until it’s attached to something that’s gonna work for rich folks do we care,” she said, calling out what she sees as performative concern from her colleagues across the aisle.
With biting sarcasm, Proudie contrasted her district’s everyday struggles with the perceived detachment of lawmakers supporting the capital gains tax cut:
“No one’s sitting at any marble tables over in the 73rd talking about capital gains tax… They’re talking about these eggs. They’re talking about how they have to use the emergency room for their primary care physician.”
She personalized her remarks further, recounting how she’s used her campaign donations to drive Meals on Wheels, and how her grandmother — now 84 — used to clean houses under the table for pay.
“She called them by Miss, didn’t miss,” Proudie said, underscoring the historical and ongoing economic challenges facing Black women in particular.
In one of the most quoted moments of her speech, she mocked wealthy lawmakers she referred to as “monopoly men,” saying, “I can’t even swim, as y’all probably have guessed by my skin color. I don’t care about no boat.”
Though Proudie acknowledged the inclusion of some benefits for low-income seniors — like her grandmother — through Missouri’s circuit breaker tax credit, she made clear that such measures shouldn’t come at the cost of giveaways to the wealthy.
“This is about priorities,” Proudie concluded. “So just pass the bill and stop trying to act like it’s us over here when it’s been you all the whole time.”
Proudie, who was first elected to the Missouri House of Representatives in 2018, has become known for her impassioned speeches on behalf of underserved communities.
Her latest floor statement has since gone viral, igniting discussion about tax fairness, economic justice, and political hypocrisy in state legislatures.
