(Great testimony on an important bill. – promoted by eli_beckerman)
I spent most of today (3/04) at a public hearing at the State House. Hundreds of people attended and about 100 testified against the Govenor’s proposed devastating budget cuts, and pleaded with the legislators to save their programs.
A few of us came and offered plans to increase revenue in a progressive manner (more funds from the rich and tax cuts for most of us).
Below is my written testimony. I also had my 3 minutes to make a speech.
TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF “AN ACT TO INVEST IN OUR COMMUNITIES
Mike Heichman, 9 Jerome St., Dorchester, 02125
617-265-8143, mikeheichman@verizon.net
March 4, 2010
“If we desire respect for the law, we must first make the law respectable.”-Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis
“Taxes are the price we pay for civilized society”-Supreme Court Justice Oliver Holmes
“We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.”-Louis Brandeis
I am speaking to you today as a life-long resident of Chelsea and Boston, an educator in Chelsea since 1970, a parent, a supporter of the Campaign for Our Communities and as an active member of the Green-Rainbow Party.
I took a day off from work to be with you today. I am speaking to you in what is often called the “People’s House”. It is an inaccurate name. Your public policy clearly demonstrates that this place is controlled by the wealthy. One example is that this hearing is being held on Friday at 10 AM, a time when most working people in this state are working. However, this time is convenient to the political and economic elite. If you want to hear the people and want the state legislature to become a more democratic body, you need to have more meetings across the state and during the evening, where it would be more possible for most people to attend.
The behavior of the economic elite is responsible for this Great Recession. It was their economic and political muscle, which compelled the national government to spend over a trillion dollars to Bail out Wall Street. Because of their wealth and power, they are able to shape government policies in ways that support their interests. Because they control the media, they have diverted attention away from their crimes and greed and have encouraged working people to fight against each other. Because of their position, they are able to fight for “limited government”, of course only in areas where most of the people think that government should take care of the interests of most of the people.
The behavior of the Republican Governor of Wisconsin is just one tip of the iceberg-the most extreme example. While the Republicans are the dominant party in that state, we find that it is the elected officials of the Democratic Party in our Commonwealth that is leading the attacks on working people and the services that are desperately needed by our communities and our fellow residents.
Two days ago, I attended and testified at a budget meeting of the Boston School Committee. On the agenda was a $61 Million cut in a schools system that is massively and permanently underfunded. We had one parent who testified that her son refuses to use the school’s bathroom (at one of the elite schools), because of the conditions of the facilities. Once again, we are faced in Boston with another year of attacks on unions, closings of schools, major budget cuts, and the privatization of our schools by for-profit charters, courtesy of the Democratic Governor, Democratic Mayor of Boston, and the Democratic-controlled General Court. We have another year of children, parents and educators begging for relief and justice from our local officials. They always appear to listen and share our suffering and end up saying that they have no choice but use their scissors to slash our children’s dreams. In Chelsea and in Boston, I have stood up with parents, children and educators for over 40 years, and conditions are getting worse.
We are meeting here today at the State House where the political leadership of our nation, state and municipalities are working hard to implement the corporate agenda. We have been told that there will be painful sacrifices. By sacrifice, they do not mean that the rich, the cause of the crisis, will pay their debt to society should be held responsible and accountable. No! It is the majority of the people, especially people of color and low-income people of all races, who must pay the cost and bear the heavy burden of the greed and crimes of the rich.
The spirit of today’s meeting is different from the dominant one that pervades this House. The Campaign for Our Communities marches in a different direction. We believe that the people who do the work deserves our respect and should be treated fairly. We believe that the government can and must be an institution that will enable the people to work together and create healthier and sustainable communities. We also believe that the people who should pay most of the bill are the wealthy who can afford it.
Only a handful of legislators have courageously signed-on as co-sponsors. I thank you. Some other legislators have recently signed onto our cause, including my State Representative, Carlos Henriquez. My State Senator, Jack Hart, as is usually the case has ignored my communications. No doubt in a few months I will be receiving his usual form e-mail letter thanking me for my communication and assuring me that the opinion of his constituents matters to him.
Members of the state legislature — Will you use your power and transform our government to be one of, for and by the people or will you will continue to be the obedient servants of your corporate masters?
This proposed bill is a very modest piece of legislation. It would raise $1.2 Billion in a way that would provide jobs and important services that our communities and residents need. It will do so in a progressive way that would provide a tax break for about 50% of the families of our state (and far more in communities like Boston where I live). The bill will be paid by those who can afford it, and they can even deduct their state taxes from the amount they pay to the national government. None of those who will be paying the most will stop being rich, and have their lives seriously impacted. There will be no need for you to worry about them; they will be fine.
However, this bill does not go far enough. Even if you would grant us everything that we are asking for in this legislation, the state would still be imposing another terrible year of devastating cuts.
I ask you to also support “An Act to Promote Transparency and Efficiency in Economic Development” (Lead sponsors – Sen. Eldridge & Rep. Sciortino). We need to address the corporate welfare that pervades our budget; this is the waste and corruption that needs to be eliminated.
In 1968, 16% of state revenues came from corporate taxes. Today, it has declined to about 4%. If we would go back to 1968, we would be able to raise over $1 Billion every year. Instead, the direction that we are moving is to increase corporate welfare.
The following information in quotations is from articles published by the Boston Globe and written by Tom Wallack. “…Over the past 16 years, Massachusetts has given away hundreds of millions of dollars in state and local tax breaks for more than 1,300 development projects under its Economic Development Incentive Program, which aims to encourage companies to invest here and create jobs.”
“Hundreds of the projects delivered fewer jobs than promised, and some companies actually slashed employment. Many firms won subsidies for projects they were set to build without state assistance; in some cases, incentives that were approved long after the projects were underway or complete. And many got generous packages though they agreed to create only a handful of low-paying jobs.”
“The government has approved millions of dollars in incentives for big-box retail chains, including Target, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Ikea, Bed Bath & Beyond, and Kohl’s. Lowe’s received tax breaks for eight locations in the past seven years, including one in Salem in December.”
“A state economic development board approved more than $45 million in state and local tax breaks yesterday for Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., Coca-Cola Co., and about a half-dozen other companies that promised to build or expand facilities and add jobs in Massachusetts.”
Today, approximately 1% of the population owns 43% of our nation’s wealth, while the bottom 80% owns only 7% of the wealth. We need to have a new kind of revenue stream -an economic royalty tax. Anyone with wealth more than $10 million would have to pay a very modest 0.5% to our coffers every year. That would raise at least $500,000 for every filthy rich person in our state. Liberating them from their excessive wealth would be good for their souls. If we want to have a Commonwealth, we need to share our common wealth. Legislators, whose side are you on?