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A nationwide coalition of local officials, community organizations, and residents who are working to pass resolutions opposing new federal tax breaks for millionaires.
Stop Local Budget Cuts:
End Federal Tax Breaks for Millionaires
A Nationwide Resolution Campaign
Take a moment and think of every organization that you come in contact with — city councils, church committees, neighborhood groups, unions, etc. Imagine if each one of them passed a resolution saying “Enough is enough! No more tax breaks for multi-millionaires while our communities are facing such dire cuts in services.” It would be impossible for the politicians in Washington to ignore.
Across the land, almost every state in the union has been plunged into its worst budget crisis since World War II.
As a result, local governments are laying off teachers, firefighters, police officers and social workers.
Towns are closing libraries and health clinics and cutting child care, mental health services, public transit and pollution control.
States are raising public college tuition and reducing financial aid, letting schools, playgrounds, roads and bridges go unrepaired.
Most communities are facing this fiscal disaster as if was unavoidable.
But these dire budget straits are not natural disasters nor accidents. They are largely the result of political choices.
Every state has been clobbered by federal tax and “devolution” policies that have shrunk revenue to states yet increased their responsibilities for security, education testing, health care and social welfare.
In May, 2003, Congress could have sent $100 billion in aid to the states to help them weather this period. But instead, Congress voted to provide massive tax breaks for multi-millionaires and global corporations, some of whom have abandoned our shores to reincorporate in Caribbean tax havens.
These tax cutters in Congress are hoping that the American public will fail to connect the dots between local service cuts and federal budget policies.
That is why this public resolution campaign is important. The process of having the dialogue in local communities is as important as passing the resolutions. Why are our local property taxes going up? Why are we seeing cuts in K-12 education and college tuition hikes pushing the ladder of opportunity further out of reach for more and more people?
At stake is the question of what kind of society we want to become. Do we want to dismantle the ladder of opportunity we have attempted to build over the last half century? Do we want to further polarize our country along the lines of wealth and power?
Explore this website to find out more about how you can get organizations in your community to pass resolutions demanding an end to tax breaks for millionaires and corporations.
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Types of organizations that could pass resolutions:
National and state parent-teachers associations
Unions (i.e., police, firefighters, teachers, public employees generally),
Labor Councils
State mental illness and mental disability associations
Towns that are trying to pass overrides to mandated property tax caps
Churches, Synagogues
Universities (or subsets of the administration, like professors)
University student groups
Fraternities/Sororities
Environmental groups (i.e. US PIRGs)
Chambers of Commerce
Corporations that take the high road
AARP and other senior organizations
Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, and other civic organizations
Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts
YMCA, YWCA
Jewish Community Centers
Chapters of the American Red Cross, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities, American Cancer Society, American Heart Assn. and other charities.