Last Thursday, April 14, Washingtonians from all walks of life put on their walking shoes and set out on the People’s Walk for Our Future. The five-day, 50-mile walk included stops at places in communities that are facing devastating cuts because of Washington’s $5 billion revenue shortfall: schools, mental health clinics, and many more. Legislators are choosing to make these deep cuts over closing tax loopholes for big out-o- state banks and corporations, and walkers wanted to make clear that they would not take it lying down.Continue reading “Two Steps Backward for Bankers — 100,000 Steps Forward For the People”
Foreclosure Fairness Now Law in Washington State
Last week, the Washington state “Foreclosure Fairness Act” was signed into law, marking a major victory in a long, multi-year fight by advocates for low-income borrowers, including the Statewide Poverty Action Network and Washington Community Action Network (an Alliance affiliate.) Continue reading “Foreclosure Fairness Now Law in Washington State”
On Tax Day, Some Alarming Tax Stats
Did you know…
- The federal government collected less in taxes in 2010 than it has in over three generations, and tax rates are at historic lows
- The Bush tax legacy means we currently tax wealth less than work: middle-income paychecks are taxed at 25% compared to stock dividends and capital gains for the wealthiest, which are taxed at a top rate of only 15%.
These statistics come from Demos’ Taxes Matter Top Ten Stats. During the week leading up to Tax Day, Demos, a public policy and advocacy organization, has been publishing articles and infographics on how we think about taxes. Read more at Our Fiscal Security.
On Tax Day, Time to Tell Corporations that the Game of Tax Dodgeball is Over
This year Uncle Sam pushed Tax Day back to April 18, giving us all a three-day tax filing holiday. It’s almost enough to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. Until, that is, you hear about GE, which apparently is on extended vacation, paying essentially nothing in taxes for 2010 despite raking in $5.1 billion in U.S. profits and $14.2 billion worldwide. And who’s footing the bill for GE’s tax vacation? We are.Continue reading “On Tax Day, Time to Tell Corporations that the Game of Tax Dodgeball is Over”
Washington CAN! Leads Takeover of State Capitol to Protest Budget Cuts
At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, Lieutenant Mark Arras of the Washington State Patrol addressed a crowd of 100 people who had filled the Capitol Building rotunda with sleeping bags and pillows. They had taken up camp in the Capitol to protest state budget cuts slashing social services like health care and education. “We are asking you to leave,” Arras said. “If you are waiting for us to arrest you, we are not going to do that. We respect your right to be here. Please work with us, and we will work with you.”
Arras was greeted with cheers, thanks, and applause, which quickly gave way to a chant that had been heard many times that day, “Whose house? Our house!”Continue reading “Washington CAN! Leads Takeover of State Capitol to Protest Budget Cuts”
Unfair to Immigrants, Costly to Taxpayers
This op-ed, originally published in the New York Times, is co-authored by Andrew Friedman, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, an Alliance affiliate.
Every year thousands of immigrants being held on Rikers Island are transferred to federal custody and deported. Only about half of them have a criminal record, many of them are here legally, most of them have their due process rights violated and all of them are subjected to substandard conditions before being returned to their countries of origin.Continue reading “Unfair to Immigrants, Costly to Taxpayers”
Why Medicaid Matters
In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed Medicaid and Medicare into law.
At the signing ceremony, he spoke of the tradition of leadership that compelled the country to create such programs. He also spoke of another tradition, one embedded in our national identity and values. He said this value “calls upon us never to be indifferent toward despair. It commands us never to turn away from helplessness. It directs us never to ignore or to spurn those who suffer untended in a land that is bursting with abundance.”
Unfortunately, the recent actions of many Members of Congress fly in the face of this tradition.Continue reading “Why Medicaid Matters”
Health Rights Organizing Project Plans Next Steps Toward Equitable Health Care
Nearly a year after the passage of health care reform, the Alliance for a Just Society convened members of its Health Rights Organizing Project, a national collaboration of grassroots community organizations working on health care, to reflect on that victory and to develop next steps in the long march towards an equitable health care system. This was the first face-to-face meeting of the coalition since health reform was made law in March 2010.Continue reading “Health Rights Organizing Project Plans Next Steps Toward Equitable Health Care”
Immigration Victories in Arizona and Beyond
Following the passage of Arizona’s racist, anti-immigrant law SB 1070, there is good news. In the wake of SB 1070, five anti-immigrant bills have been defeated in Arizona. One of the bills defeated included the denial of birth right citizenship to children of undocumented immigrants. But the worst of one of all proposed requiring hospitals to check the immigration status of patients, then notify law enforcement if they suspected someone was undocumented. The battle to defeat these bills was led by Promise Arizona and several other community organizations.Continue reading “Immigration Victories in Arizona and Beyond”
Big Banks Must Step Up to Address the Revenue Crisis
The big banks live in a parallel universe.
In their universe, the financial meltdown was beyond their power to stop. The recession that left more than 1/10th of the American workforce unemployed is a shame they had little to do with. The massive government bailout of the financial system was an opportunity to make a tidy profit so that you could give your executive hefty bonuses. And the budget deficit that was catapulted to its current highs because of the recession proves that the government has gotten too big.Continue reading “Big Banks Must Step Up to Address the Revenue Crisis”