This summer, a Washington state coalition
of businesses,
labor and social justice organizations, and a few prominent civic
leaders,
including our friend, Bill
Gates,
Sr., is trying to make history. They’re putting boots on the
streets
to advance to the November ballot Washington’s
first
tax reform initiative in 40 years. The message of the initiative, I-1098,
is simple: Washingtonians are
suffering from the state’s budget crisis, and they are in desperate need
of a
fair tax code to fund core public services like education and
healthcare.
One coalition member, Washington
Community
Action Network (also a member of UFE’s Tax Fairness Organizing
Collaborative), will host a launching event for volunteers this
Memorial
Day weekend on Saturday, May 29th to start getting the word out and
gathering signatures of Washington voters.
Forty thousand residents have
lost basic health coverage as a result of the state’s fiscal woes. That
includes thousands of seniors and disabled residents who have lost daily
care,
and children who may be susceptible to illness due to elimination of
state-funded
vaccinations. On education, a seventy percent reduction in funds to
reduce
class sizes is causing classrooms to bulge with more, and presumably
less
engaged, students.
The passage of I-1098 would restore funding to those
services
while, at the same time, lowering taxes for the majority of Washington
households.
Sounds oxymoronic, right? That’s the beauty of a progressive tax
structure – a
fair share of the costs of public services are paid for by those who’ve
benefitted the most from them, and who, in turn, have the most to give
back to the
common good. Here’s an overview of I-1098... Read more >>
May 24, 2010
