JOIN FELLOW
EDUCATION ACTVISTS
FOR A RALLY/PRESS CONFERENCE AT THE
STATE BUILDING AT 1515 CLAY ST IN OAKLAND
TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE STRUGGLE
TO MAKE THE 1% PAY.
Let’s continue the campaign for the MILLIONAIRES’ TAX - the
only 100% progressive tax initiative, NOT Jerry Brown’s new
compromise tax initiative which attacks our side and aims to
keep the Millionaires’ Tax off the ballot.
Brown's compromise - East Bay Express - March 16th
In recent weeks it was becoming increasingly clear that Governor Jerry Brown’s tax measure proposal was headed for defeat, because it included an unpopular sales tax hike.... So Brown, instead of pushing on with his doomed measure, decided to strike a deal with the sponsors of the Millionaire’s Tax and combine the two measures into one.
...The new compromise measure will bring in an estimated $9 billion annually if it passes...
...infighting and competing measures threatened to divide traditional alliances on the left. For example, the California Federation of Teachers was backing the Millionaire’s Tax while the state’s other major teachers’ union, the California Teachers’ Association, was supporting Brown’s plan. Now, the two influential unions will be working together for the same proposal....
...With two measures instead of one, opponents of the Millionaire’s Tax — i.e. Big Business and the wealthy — would have likely spent heavily to defeat it....The rich, of course, will probably go after the compromise measure, too. But at least Democrats and progressives will be united in their fight to pass it [and big business might not want to anger Brown for fear of not getting other things from him]
The new compromise measure, if it passes, will increase income taxes on the wealthy at a higher rate than what Brown had proposed. Individuals making more than $500,000 a year, and couples making more than $1 million, will see a 3-percent-tax hike, which is the same as what the Millionaire’s Tax proposed (the governor had proposed a 2-percent increase). The new measure also lowers Brown’s proposed sales tax increase from .5 percent to .25 percent. The Millionaire’s tax would have left sales taxes as is.
At the same time, the new measure would raise taxes by 1 percent on individuals who make more than $250,000 a year, and couples who make more than $500,000 (which is the same as what Brown originally proposed); and by 2 percent on individuals who make more than $500,000 a year, and couples who make more than $600,000 a year (Brown had originally proposed a 1.5 percent hike). The Millionaire’s Tax would have only increased taxes on incomes above $1 million. The compromise also discards the Millionaire’s Tax proposal to hike taxes by 5 percent on incomes above $3 million.
The main drawback, of course, to the compromise deal is the sales tax increase. Sales taxes are regressive because they impact low- and middle-income wage earners the most. They’re especially a bad idea in a state in which low-income people already pay a higher effective tax rate (10.2 percent) than the wealthy (7.4 percent), when considering all taxes.
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