Reinvesting in education and public services
The AFT believes that in order to have a strong democracy that protects the common good and a strong economy that provides quality jobs, we must fight for the resources each community needs. Even six years after the end of the Great Recession, millions still lack good jobs. Nearly one in four children lives in poverty. Every year, income inequality continues to get worse and corporate profits continue to rise. Now is the time to reclaim the promise of America by reinvesting in public services.
Recovery from the Great Recession has been uneven across states, but state policy choices do matter. In Wisconsin, the governor signed legislation repealing public employee bargaining rights, gave millions in tax cuts to high-income earners and corporations. Since these policies have been put into place, the state’s job and income growth has been among the worst in the nation and its budget deficit has grown. Wisconsin’s neighboring state, Minnesota, raised taxes on the super-rich and invested the money in education. Minnesota now has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the region and enjoys a budget surplus.
In its annual report “Who Pays?” the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that low- and middle-income families pay a greater share of their income in state and local taxes than wealthy families. The top one percent of income earners, on average, pay only 5.4 percent of their income to state and local taxes, while the bottom 20 percent of income earners pay 10.9 percent of their income. Middle- and low-income families are hit particularly hard in states that do not tax higher incomes at a higher rate and states that rely heavily on sales and other consumption taxes to fund public services.
Our country does have the money to invest in quality education, quality health care, and quality public services for all. AFT has long advocated for [WHAT IS THIS LINK?] a fair tax system where the richest people and the most profitable corporation—those who can afford to pay a little more—assume a greater share of the tax burden and have fewer chances to avoid their obligations to society. States should close corporate tax loopholes, reform corporate subsidies and tax expenditures, and look to raise taxes on high-income earners instead of squeezing working families even harder.
Resources
http://www.cbpp.org/research/state-budget-and-tax/state-personal-income…
http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/analysis/2014/09/stat…
http://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg/building21stcentury_2012…
http://www.epi.org/publication/lets-face-it-were-far-from-broke-america…
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/randi-weingarten/a-tale-of-two-states_b_6…