Federal data published Thursday shows that nonfinancial corporate profits in the U.S. surged to an all-time record of $2 trillion in the second quarter of 2022 as companies continued jacking up prices, pushing inflation to a 40-year high to the detriment of workers and consumers.

According to figures released by the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), corporate profit margins over the past three months were the widest they’ve been since the 1950s as ongoing price hikes pad the bottom lines of large businesses—and eat into the paychecks of employees.

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“The glaringly obvious takeaway from this new data is that market power is a key driver of rising prices,” said Sarah Miller, executive director of the American Economic Liberties Project. “Policymakers need to use this new information—which confirms what working families across the country know all too well—to attack concentrated corporate power immediately and aggressively across the board.”

“That means levying excess profits taxes, ensuring big penalties for price-fixing, and resourcing enforcement agencies to prosecute price-gouging and other forms of corporate abuse,” Miller added. “And it means banning large mergers, stock buybacks, and ‘payoffs for layoffs’ to help build durable market power for working people and consumers and level the playing field for small businesses and entrepreneurs.”

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