Fwd: [oaklandteachers] CFT calls for fair taxation to fund public progr

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

CalCARE will co-sponsor this. Code Pink should, too.

Susan

Begin forwarded message:

  From: "communard2@juno.com" <communard2@juno.com>

  Date: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:44:34 PM US/Pacific

  To: oaklandteachers@lists.riseup.net

  Subject: Re: [oaklandteachers] CFT calls for fair taxation to fund public
  progr

  Reply-To: oaklandteachers@lists.riseup.net

  The ILWU is planning to shut down the entire West Coast May 1st to oppose the
  continued funding of the occupation of Iraq by Democrats and Republicans
  alike and to demand that the monies be used for needed social services in the
  US instead.

  May 1st would be a logical day for OEA to take a similar, linked action and
  to call on all the CTA urbans to join us. 

  OEA's State Council delegates could advance this program at the April
  meeting, too, since it is entirely consistent with what Jack outlines below. 
  If CTA were to initiate job actions statewide May 1st, it would shift the
  entire dynamic of the debate over the budget cuts and the alleged lack of
  funds.

  Through the local AFT, we could invite CFT to join us May 1st in statewide
  action.

  A May 1st action would also allow OEA (and CTA) to forge stronger links with
  the immigrant community, particularly those from Mexico, Central and South
  America since May 1st has been the date for major immigrant-rights actions
  over the past two years.

  Bob Mandel

  -- "Jack Gerson" <jackrgerson@gmail.com> wrote:

  I'm forwarding an op-ed piece by California Federation of Teachers (i.e.,
  statewide AFT) President Marty Hittleman, from the San Jose Mercury News.
  Hittleman calls for opposing the budget cuts to all vital public
  programs--not just those to education--and for increasing state revenues by
  making tax policies more progressive. [Although I disagree with one of
  Hittleman's specific tax proposals, reinstating the vehicle license fee,
  because that is not a progressive tax.]

  CTA's latest Budget Watch newsletter calls for "a balanced approach" to cuts,
  and says CTA is "researching" the public's willingness to oppose higher
  taxes. That's a losing strategy, which will leave different public programs
  fighting over who gets cut least and further antagonize the majority of the
  public--working people of moderate or low income. CTA ought to be reaching
  out to CFT, CNA and parent and community groups around aggressively fighting
  to close the state's gaping tax loopholes and upside down tax
  structure--progressive taxation to expand, not contract, vital public
  programs. I--and I think many others from the large urban local caucus--will
  be putting this forward at the next CTA State Council meeting in April.

  Jack Gerson

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

  http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_8332936?nclick_check=1

  Don't sacrifice schools on budgetary altar

  By Marty Hittelman

  Article Launched: 02/22/2008 01:33:40 AM PST

  For some people, the projected $16 billion state budget deficit is an example
  of over-spending. They say, "We must learn to live within our means." When we
  hear this line we need to remember to ask, "How can we afford to give to
  Californians the public services they truly need and deserve?"

  The biggest single portion of the California budget goes to public education,
  including K-12 and community colleges, enshrined by the voters when they
  approved Proposition 98. That's about 40 percent of the roughly $120 billion
  budget. Is too much being spent on public education in California? Consider
  that California ranks 46th in the nation in per-pupil spending for its 6.5
  million students. Per-pupil funding in the Golden State's community colleges
  ranks 45th for its 2.5 million students. Clearly, California is not spending
  too much on education. In fact, California is woefully under-funding
  education.

  Is the state spending too much on fire prevention? Ask victims of the
  Southern California firestorms of last year. On health care? Ask the state's
  nearly 7 million medically uninsured if they think too much money is being
  spent on health care delivery. And so on down the line, from road repair to
  disaster preparedness: services recklessly cut, with the predictable results.

  Some claim that government is riddled with fraud and waste. Could we find
  some examples of fraud and waste in state government? No doubt. Eliminating
  that evil was one of the promises made by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in his
  election campaign. Recently, asked by a reporter how much waste and fraud he
  had uncovered, the governor said: Not enough to make a big difference in the
  state budget. So much for ideology vs. reality.

  If we are to face, head on, the need for state services, we need to consider
  increased revenue. We cannot continue to cut programs that serve students,
  the elderly and the ill. One immediate solution would be to reinstate former
  Gov. Pete Wilson's vehicle license fee, which would now bring in about $6
  billion per year. If the vehicle license fee had not been reduced when
  Schwarzenegger came into office, we would not be in the mess that we are in.
  Each of us could pay what we had previously been paying to address our
  current budget crisis. That was Wilson's solution to a budget shortfall, and
  that is what the current governor should do.

  It is possible that a budget can simultaneously be a whole lot of money and
  also not enough money. That is precisely the situation we face now in
  California. We can choose to stick our head in the mathematical sand and
  imagine $120 billion in isolation from social reality, and simply say, "We're
  overspending." Or we can raise up our head, count the people on top of the
  sand, and place the money in context with the largest population of any state
  and say, "That's not enough to meet our needs."

  We need greater state revenues through fair tax policies - policies that
  acknowledge we do have the money in the richest state in the richest country
  on earth, but it's in the wrong pockets. Besides reinstating the vehicle
  license fee, let's just mention one corporate tax loophole to close. As oil
  prices climb through the roof, California remains the only oil-producing
  state that has no severance tax on black gold as it emerges from the ground.
  That would, at today's prices, bring in close to $1 billion per year.

  There are similar options that would not adversely affect the average
  Californian, but would allow our state to educate us, keep us safe and
  protect our health. The founders of the republic did not say, "No new taxes,
  ever." They said, "No taxes without representation." We do elect the
  representatives. They are in the governor's office and the Legislature. They
  just need to get straight who they represent, and how raising the right taxes
  at the right moment on the right people would help California to move
  forward.

  MARTY HITTELMAN is president of the California Federation of Teachers.

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