A Tax Fairness Campaign

The lack of a progressive tax system in the United States is a critical problem that must be corrected. And Barack Obama’s campaign promise to reverse the federal government’s recent decision to continue the Bush-era tax cuts on the top 2% guarantees that tax-reform issues will be a major part of the 2012 election.

Yet there is no grassroots force pushing for strong action on tax fairness. That void needs to be filled.

One argument against reversing the Bush cuts for the wealthy is that taxation on the top 2% of U.S. households affects some hard-working lawyers, doctors, and other professionals. To some degree, that argument undermines potential support.

But a focus on the top 1% of households avoids that vulnerability. And the top 1% is where the money is.

The top 1% now takes about 25% of the nation’s total personal income (compared to 9% in 1974). In 2004, the wealthiest 1% had an average net worth of nearly $15 million.

In 2009, 99% of households, whose incomes averaged $56,000, paid 28% of their income in total taxes (federal, state, and local). The top 1%, with average incomes of $1,300,000, paid only 31% of their income in taxes and actually paid taxes at a lower rate than did those in the 91-99 percentiles. Their effective tax rate in 2006 was one third less than it was in 1970.

Since 1979, in large part due to lower federal taxes, the average after-tax income of the top 1% has increased 260 percent (while most incomes stagnated).

One result is a dangerous increase in economic inequality, which is eroding the broad-based purchasing power that is needed to sustain prosperity. With the economic growth we’ve had over the last three decades, the average annual income of the middle fifth of households would be more than $12,000 higher today without this immoral redistribution of income upward – that is, if each segment received the same percentage of the nation’s income.

About half of this increased inequality is due to changes in the federal tax code.

Another result is that governments are starved for resources. Federal aid to state and local governments has diminished as our ongoing Great Recession has devastated revenues for those governments. Consequently our state and local governments are firing workers who are needed to provide essential public services. These cutbacks are creating great hardship for many, both for those who need services and those who need jobs. Especially hard hit are the poor and homeless.

Given this urgent situation, which calls for strong grassroots action, I’ve written the following draft of a proposal for a Tax Fairness Campaign that I’m now circulating for feedback. The heart of this proposal is a pledge that reads: “Until this nation has a progressive tax system based on the ability to pay, I will support raising federal taxes on the top 1%.”

An example of a progressive sliding scale would be if the following groups continued to pay taxes at the same rates they pay now:

Bottom 20%	15%
Next 20%	20%
Middle 20%	25%
Next 20%	30%

And the top 20% paid at the following (higher) rates:

Next 10%	35%
Next 5%	40%
Next 4%	45%
Top 1%	50%

I’ve gathered input from a wide range of individuals concerning the following proposal. Ideally, I’d like to take more time to engage in a more deliberate planning process with more people participating simultaneously. But time is short. To impact candidates in the 2012 election, we need to start now.

This plan is based on five stages. Moving from one stage to the next will depend on meeting specific targets in each stage. Whether we reach stage five is far from certain, but I think it's worth a shot.

I’d be interested in your thoughts.

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Tax Fairness Campaign Proposal

Mission: Help transform the United States into a more compassionate community dedicated to the common good of the entire human family.

General Method: Foster ongoing self-development, mutual support, and political, social, and cultural reforms that improve living conditions so people can more fully enjoy life, realize their potential, and participate fully in community affairs.

Initial Specific Goal: Help make the tax system in the United States more progressive – that is, households with higher incomes pay taxes at higher rates.

Primary Methods:

Stage One:

·        Form a multiracial governing board with at least five members to guide the project by adopting written policies.

·        Select the staff responsible for implementing those policies (initially a volunteer Coordinator).

Stage Two:

·        Form an advisory committee that offers occasional email input.

·        Write a Tax Fairness Pledge. Latest draft:

Until this nation has a truly progressive tax system based on the ability to pay, I will support raising federal taxes on the top 1%*. [* In 2009, the top 1% had average incomes of $1,300,000 and paid 31% of their income in taxes (federal, state, and local), compared to the other 99% whose incomes averaged $56,000 and paid 28% of their income in taxes.]

·        Seek fiscal sponsorship by an existing community-based organization.

·        Create a website featuring the Pledge.

Stage Three:

·        Ask the general public, organizations, elected officials, governmental bodies, and candidates to sign the Pledge. (Possible target: 100,000)

·        Ask key organizations with strong Internet roots to promote the Pledge.

·        With an auto-reply, inform signatories about the future action plan and ask them to ask others to sign the Pledge.

Stage Four:

·        Expand the governing board to make it more inclusive.

·        Adopt an operating budget specifying the revenue required to move to the next stage.

·        Invite signatories to become one of the following:

o       A Supporting Member who pays annual dues.

o       A Continuing Member who donates monthly.

o       An Active Member who builds support for the Pledge as an individual.

o       A Voting Member who joins a “home-based team” with other signatories who live in the same Congressional District. These teams will:

§         Meet monthly in a member’s home or a community center.

§         Share a meal.

§         Open with a period of silence for members to reflect, pray, or meditate.

§         Ask members to report on their efforts and plans with regard to self-development.

§         Plan activities that will promote the Pledge in their district.

Stage Five:

·        If and when the revenue specified in the budget is raised, hire paid staff to assist local organizing.

·        Build toward a national membership meeting on April 15, 2012 when candidates for the governing board will present themselves, after which voting members will elect the governing board.

·        Persistently ask candidates for Congress during the 2012 election to sign the Pledge.

·        Be prepared to undertake nonviolent civil disobedience based on the principles of Martin Luther King if and when it helps achieve winnable goals.

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If an initial governing board forms, it could, to whatever degree it chooses, modify the draft policies that are included in the above proposal. Thereafter, I anticipate that so long as the board approves the Coordinator's actions, there would be little demand on the time of board members, though they would be free to contribute as much as they want. If and when there were objections to the Coordinator's actions, the board would engage in the process of adopting new policies to guide the Coordinator.  These board responsibilities would therefore probably take no more than an hour a week on average.

While communicating that understanding, I’ve recently invited a few individuals to form the board. So far none have accepted it. It is my intention to continue discussing this proposal with potential members while gathering feedback and refining the proposal as much as possible until a governing board is formed or I am persuaded that the project is not feasible.

I would be available to serve as volunteer Coordinator.

Once the board is formed and the Coordinator is selected, the Coordinator could ask Tides Foundation (or some other strong community-based organization) to serve as fiscal sponsor for the project. This affiliation would assure donors that their money would be handled responsibly and relieve the Coordinator of bookkeeping responsibilities.

Some of the key organizations with strong Internet roots that could be asked to promote the Pledge include groups such as MoveOn and Color of Change.

Prominent individuals who could be asked to serve on an advisory board include Robert Reich, who has already expressed strong support for the concept. At the 2011 Earl Lectures, on January 25, during the question-and-answer period following Reich’s lecture, I summarized this proposal, read the then-current draft of the Pledge to him (which was very similar to the current one), and asked him what he thought. He responded, “I like it.” (Nevertheless, it is far from certain that he would serve on an advisory board.)

If we don't obtain the number of signatures required to move to the next stage, we could continue to maintain the project as a low-cost Internet-based operation, with limited expectations in terms of effectiveness. If we do meet the target, however, we could then ask signatories to become dues-paying members, help raise other funds, and begin organizing locally.

Then if we generate enough money to meet our budget, we could hire paid staff to assist local organizing and represent the project to the public and media.

This proposal is thus based on some key principles. One is a commitment to achieving specific objectives before trying to achieve more ambitious goals. In this way, the project can remain realistic.

Secondly, to the best of my knowledge, this approach is unique in that it is rooted in holistic politics. With a systemic perspective, it explicitly affirms the whole person and recognizes that individuals are profoundly interconnected with one another and their environment. Therefore inner and outer change reinforce one another.

This project would enable members to commit to ongoing self-development and supporting one another in those efforts. But it would do so without laying a trip on anyone. It would not demand that all members make such a commitment. It would merely stipulate that those members who want to have a full vote in controlling the organization would need to commit to working on their self-development and providing certain close fellow members with eye-to-eye mutual support – partly in order to steadily improve their political effectiveness.

There is no assumption that the home-based teams would necessarily engage in collective problem-solving on personal issues, though such efforts might take place informally with selected members outside of group meetings. But merely reporting verbally on one’s self-development efforts and being heard by close friends would be supportive, and knowing that one would be asked to report on one’s efforts would serve to remind members to pay attention to their commitment to self-development work.

Another key principle is that the strategy embraces both a long-term vision and short-term achievable objectives. The emphasis is on a particular activity (reforming the tax system), but that focus is within the context of a comprehensive worldview rooted in universal values. So while the name “Tax Fairness Campaign” could be highlighted, it would likely best be conducted by an organization with a broader name, such as the Association for Comprehensive Transformation (ACT-NOW).

If it evolves successfully, this effort could help build a new community-organizing model for the modern Internet world that would both maximize spontaneity and self-determination, and establish efficient structures with elected representatives. It would not aim to be the only such model, but it could contribute to the development of new sustainable, democratic structures.

The Egyptian people’s movement has once again demonstrated the power of the Internet. But it has also demonstrated the importance of structure. In honor of their martyrs, let us design more effective ways to organize so we can help grow a movement dedicated to the common good of the entire human family.