All this week, Save Our Safety Net (SOS-DC) has attempted to do lunch with Mayor Vincent Gray. Their effort culminates with “a grandstyle picnic” today at 1:00 PM at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave, NW. SOS-DC said, “We invite all District residents to join us as we offer Mayor Gray a ‘menu’ of progressive taxes that can take safety net services ‘off the table’ of budget cuts!”
Tuesday, on the Pete in the Street segment of “More Room On the Outside” on DCTV, SOS-DC’s renewed push for a more progressive tax structure was discussed. “It doesn’t make sense. The people who are making more money should be taxed more,” said co-host Toussaint Tingling-Clemmons. “There seems to be a penalty for being poor… our services get cut whenever things are tight. No, we all don’t tighten our belts the same way. The rich really should [pay more]. If capitalism has been that good to you, you should be able to give back. And I don’t want to hear that you gave $1,200 to some charity. No. No, it should go back into the revenue of the city.”
SOS-DC noted, “Over the last three years, the District of Columbia has cut more than $100 million in funding for services like domestic violence resources, affordable housing, and childcare, services that help struggling low-income families, and keep our communities secure and strong.”
“Instead of more budget cuts to programs residents need, SOS-DC proposed that City Council could take a progressive approach: Raise taxes on the city’s highest income earners, who suffer least during the recession. Creating three new tax brackets – at $100,000, $200,000, and $500,000 – could generate enough funding to prevent the worst of the cuts, and invest in an economic recovery that would include everyone.”
The New York Times made a similar argument to New York legislators: “Calling for painful spending cuts, it turns out, is the easy part. Calling for relatively painless tax increases requires political courage, which [Gov. Andrew] Cuomo and state lawmakers have yet to display.”
The Times explained that New York’s proposed cuts to services would mean “that New York’s most vulnerable citizens – schoolchildren, the elderly, the poor, the sick – will feel a disproportionate amount of the pain. Governor Cuomo has vowed to make the tough decisions and not be swayed by special-interest pleadings. But he is refusing to impose any new taxes or even continue a current surcharge on New York’s wealthiest and least vulnerable citizens. That makes no fiscal sense. So we have to assume that for Mr. Cuomo, some special interests are more special than others.”
Like Gov. Cuomo, Mayor Gray must make difficult decisions in these next weeks and his decisions will reflect which “special interest” groups he favors most, the wealthiest or the neediest. Unlike Cuomo in New York, however, Gray is unlikely to be pushed by D.C.’s leading newspaper to take a progressive approach to balancing the budget. That will be left to citizens.
Related Links: www.saveoursafetynet.com