Full 2016 Platform

ECONOMIC JUSTICE, JOBS & TAX FAIRNESS (2018 DRAFT)

Income inequality is the driving issue of our time. We must begin immediately to correct centuries of policies that made the rich richer and the poor poorer, and we must do this through a racial equity lense. We are committed to a sustainable economy with strong diverse communities based on living-wage jobs, tax fairness,  shared prosperity and a robust safety net.

We support:

1. Economic justice for womxn, including pay equity enforcement, Social Security reform, livable wages, paid sick leave and parental leave, early childhood education, and reproductive rights
2. Policies that address racial, gender and ethnic inequality, particularly in education, employment, housing and lending
3. Social Security and employment pensions as supplements to personal savings
4. Using post offices to provide bank services for low-income people
5. Forgiveness of the accumulated $1.5 trillion in student debt as an unconscionable burden and drag on the economy.
6. Restoring bankruptcy law to include discharge of mortgages and student debt in bankruptcy court
7. Reducing or eliminating graduate student debt in exchange for 10 years of critically needed public service
8. Fair and equitable taxation to provide state revenue that meets constitutional requirements, cares for the most vulnerable, and promotes the common good
9. A progressive state tax system, including a capital gains tax, a reduced sales tax on goods and services, a transaction tax on the exchange of securities, a high-earner’s personal income tax, and replacing the Business and Occupation tax on gross revenue with a (constitutional) 1% corporate income tax on profits
10. Creating a tax exemption budget as a part of the biennial budget appropriations process, including repealing tax breaks and incentives for companies that do not provide verifiable benefits to the state, and subjecting them to renewal every six years
11. A publicly owned Washington state investment trust (state bank) the repository for state funds, to foster economic development by participating with local banks in infrastructure and community development loan
12. An incremental increase in the state minimum wage, with a Universal Basic Income as the goal
13. Federal and state efforts to create sustainable, living-wage jobs
14. Funding and rebuilding our infrastructure as a proven method of job creation, not as privatization of bridges, toll roads and other public investments
15. Increasing property tax breaks on primary residences of low-income homeowners and small businesses
16. Corporations reporting the value of each state tax break, as well as its benefit to the public
17. Raising the Federal minimum wage to above $12 and automatically adjusting it annually for inflation
18. Rolling back the Trump tax cuts for corporations and the very wealthy
19. Raising the federal capital gains tax on investments to the same rate as earned income, and eliminate the carried interest loophole for hedge fund managers
20. Restoring the Federal estate tax for estates of $5 million or more, keyed to inflation
21. Scrapping the cap on income subject to Social Security tax
22. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to help the working poor, and applying an inflation index to the Alternative Minimum Tax to protect the middle class
23. Capping the annual percentage rate of interest on payday loans at no more than 36%, as Federal law does for military families, and banning Wall Street banks from being payday lenders
24. Requiring banks to lower principal or interest on underwater mortgages to keep distressed homeowners in their homes
25. Greater participation by the business community to retrain workers for jobs in the evolving economy, both directly and in partnership with post-secondary institutions
26. A major increase in funding for low-income and workforce housing, between 30% and 60% of area median income
27. Paying for growth with impact fees correlated with development

We oppose:

1. Privatizing Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid or reducing benefits
2. Privatizing, outsourcing, or moving public jobs offshore or out of state
3. Public/private projects where the public pays the bills and/or takes the risk and the private operator reaps the profits
4. Corporate welfare, including tax breaks that don’t provide proven public benefit
5. U.S. businesses incorporating offshore to evade taxes, or tax breaks for them