As the federal government continues to sow chaos and force unprecedented cuts that threaten our communities in need, the work we do at the local level to provide stability and support is more critical than ever. But with limited local revenue tools, our county and city resources are already failing to keep up with growing community needs.
We cannot keep our communities housed, fed, and safe without new tools for revenue at the state and local level—and we cannot possibly fill the gaps left by looming federal funding cuts, which will leave cities and counties like ours (and its population of 2.4 million) without the money for basic community and infrastructure needs, like roads, sidewalks, childcare, food assistance, affordable housing, and other critical services. That is why state and local elected officials have been desperately asking the state legislature for new revenue options.
Furthermore, despite our state having among the highest concentrations of wealthy individuals and corporations in the country, our notoriously upside-down tax policies place an unfair burden on the backs of working families who have the least. This was true even before the Trump tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy were passed last year. This fundamental inequity is reflected in our local economic reality: massive wealth among a few and thriving large corporations alongside an affordability crisis and widening disparities between the haves and have-nots…