“‘Rebalance the scales’: A push for taxing WA's wealthy”
Firelands member David spoke to Public News Service about why we need to tax the rich and prevent cuts to our public schools, childcare, and healthcare.
“Washington State is entering the new year with an estimated revenue shortfall of $11 billion. In response, advocates for working families are urging the state to generate new revenue by raising taxes on its wealthiest residents. Research shows Washington has the second most regressive tax system in the country, with low- and middle-income residents paying upwards of 14% of their income to taxes, while the wealthiest pay just 4%...
HR-1, which passed this summer, severely cut essential programs such as Medicaid and SNAP, while giving large tax cuts to the wealthy. The richest 1% in Washington will receive more than 60% of the federal tax cuts, averaging more than 103,000 dollars a year, according to the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy.
David Henson…with the nonprofit Firelands Workers Building Community Power, said the state has no choice but to find a new source of revenue.
‘I would like to actually see a common-sense approach to the funding for our taxes,’ he stressed. ‘They make more money than we do. They should pay their fair share.’”