April 25, 2024
In this issue:
- In WA and beyond, a child care crisis is holding parents back
- The myth of the mobile millionaire
- Why there’s more work to do to make Washington’s tax code and budget more equitable
- Nobody “earns” a billion dollars. We need a wealth tax
- World leaders have a chance to raise taxes for rich people like me. I’m begging them to take it
Are you an early endorser of the No I-2109 campaign? It’s not too late to join hundreds of people, small businesses, and organizations like the Washington State Parent Ambassadors, Children’s Alliance, Save the Children Action, and MomsRising in signing your name now.
Parents, children’s organizations, teachers, and many more are opposing I-2109, the mega-millionaire tax break, because it will take billions (more than $5 billion over 6 years!) from Washington’s childcare, schools, and early learning programs.
And as this week’s Seattle Times reports, Washington’s child care crisis is holding parents back, causing economic pain for families and for businesses who need a stable, dependable workforce.
I-2109 will make our child care crisis even worse by taking away billions dedicated to making childcare more affordable and more accessible – and giving it to Washington’s mega-millionaires and billionaires.
Be an early endorser: add your name, your small business, or your group to the growing list of I-2109 opposers today.
– Treasure
IN WA AND BEYOND, A CHILD CARE CRISIS
IS HOLDING PARENTS BACK
“Slemp expected to return to work after having her son in August. But then she and her husband started looking for child care — and doing the math. Even the least expensive option still ate up most of Slemp’s salary. But between her and her husband, they earned too much to qualify for government help.
I really didn’t want to quit my job, she says, but she felt like she had no choice. I have to just keep telling myself, I’m a stay-at-home mom now. Now, they’re struggling to pay their bills on a single income.
The dilemma is common throughout Washington and the U.S., where high-quality child care programs can be prohibitively expensive, government assistance is limited and day care openings are sometimes hard to find at all. In 2022, more than 1 in 10 young children had a parent who had to quit, turn down or drastically change a job in the previous year because of child care problems.
And that burden falls most on mothers, who shoulder more child-rearing responsibilities and are far more likely to leave a job to care for kids. For mothers without college degrees, a day without work is often a day without pay; they are less likely to have paid leave. The stay-at-home moms in this country are disproportionately mothers who’ve been pushed out of the workforce because they don’t make enough to make it work financially to pay for child care.”
More – Daniel Beekman, Moriah Balingit, & Sharon Lurye, Seattle Times
THE MYTH OF THE MOBILE MILLIONAIRE
“State tax codes, which bring in about one-third of U.S. tax revenue, on average shift money from poorer households to richer ones. According to a recent report by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, forty-four states’ tax systems exacerbate income inequality, with the poorest 20 percent of households paying the highest effective tax rates.
Things don’t have to be this way. The notion that rich taxpayers will flee if the state comes for their money is mostly fiction. The most obvious clue comes from the existence of the small number of states, including California, New Jersey, Minnesota, and New York, that buck the overall trend by taxing rich people at higher rates. If the conventional wisdom were accurate, you would expect those states to be devoid of wealthy people. Instead, they are among the richest in the country.
A number of international studies from the past decade further undermine the idea of millionaire flight. In 2011, for example, Spain reintroduced its wealth tax. Crucially, the exact rate varied from place to place within Spain, and the government raised $19 in new revenue for every dollar lost to relocations. A study of the Swiss wealth tax and studies of Scandinavian wealth taxes found broadly similar results.
In this regard, Europe and America don’t appear to be too different. An analysis of confidential IRS data on earnings and relocations reported that millionaires are not very mobile and actually have lower migration rates than the general population. Researchers at the Stanford Graduate School of Business found that, much as in Spain, relocations sapped only about a nickel out of each new dollar in revenues from the 2010 California tax increase.”
More – Brian Galle, The Atlantic
WHY THERE’S MORE WORK TO DO TO MAKE WA’S TAX CODE & BUDGET MORE EQUITABLE
“When it comes to tax justice, it has also been powerful to see the progress we’ve made in our state in the past few years. For example, the new capital gains excise tax brought in almost $1 billion in its first year – simply by ensuring the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe – to support schools, child care, and early learning initiatives. Washington needs these kinds of progressive revenue solutions to ensure we can pay for schools, affordable housing, and other supports that help our communities thrive.
Three initiatives coming before voters this November threaten the progress we’ve already made. These measures could overturn the payroll tax that funds the state’s long-term care insurance benefit; remove $1 billion annually from schools and early learning by overturning the capital gains tax on the uber-rich; and undo the Climate Commitment Act, which supports efforts to curb air and water pollution and helps fund programs like public transportation and programs that make homes more energy efficient.
Children and people who are aging or who have a disability need the funding provided by the capital gains tax and the long-term care benefit. And programs designed to protect our environment will ensure a healthier future for everyone. We all need to keep working for a more equitable tax code that raises the revenue to fund these critical services, and we need to ensure the state doesn’t go backward in areas where we’ve made progress.”
More – Preston Parish, Washington State Standard
NOBODY ‘EARNS’ A BILLION DOLLARS.
WE NEED A WEALTH TAX
“It’s simply not possible to make that much money by working for it, no matter how hard you work or how smart you are. So we have to ask, where does this enormous wealth come from?
One way is by outright plunder: taking money and resources from other people, either by naked expropriation or monopolization or grand corruption. The second is by inheritance. The third way is through the income spun off by wealth itself — profits, dividends, interest, rents, capital gains — what economists call returns to capital as opposed to returns to labor.
The real problem is not that wealth grows over time. It’s that so few people have so much of it, while so many people have so little. The toxic concentration of wealth in the U.S. and many other countries is a political problem too. Disproportionate wealth translates into disproportionate political power.
As inequality widens, the ultra-rich become more able and willing to elevate their own self-interest above the public interest. One obvious way they do so is by cutting their own taxes while increasing taxes (and cutting benefits) for everyone else.”
More – C.J. Polychroniou & James Boyce, Truthout
WORLD LEADERS HAVE A CHANCE TO RAISE TAXES FOR RICH PEOPLE LIKE ME. I’M BEGGING THEM TO TAKE IT
“The public supports it, and even the rich are calling for it. We must prevent a deeper slide into global inequality. The need to tax rich people like me has never been so dire. Extreme wealth concentration in the hands of a few oligarchs is a threat to democracy the world over.
This week, finance ministers and central-bank governors from G20 countries will meet in Washington DC at the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). They will have a chance to commit to raising the taxes of wealthy people.
Movement in the G20 to tackle this issue is a small sign of progress. But for nearly two decades, I have been calling on the US to raise my and other wealthy Americans’ taxes. So what is getting in the way? It can’t be a lack of public support. Between 2017 and 2022, public polls in all G20 countries indicated strong backing for reducing inequality and raising taxes on the rich. A 2023 survey found that even millionaires in G20 countries are supportive of raising taxes.
We are making progress. But the work has just begun. The spring meetings provide an opportunity for the G20 nations generally, and the US specifically, to strengthen their resolve to save the planet and safeguard our democracies. The first step in doing so involves taxing the rich.”
More – Abigail Disney, The Guardian
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