Without the Fair Tax, are there actual fiscal ideas?

 

Bill Knight column for 2-18, 19 or 20, 2021

 These are taxing times; times when we face not just a public-health crisis, but higher taxes – or lower levels of public services.

Or both.

Nationally, Republicans who backed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are responsible for federal taxes going up sometime in 2021.

That measure originally lowered taxes to some degree for many, but it had a hidden feature, an automatic tax hike every two years starting this year, increases that in six years will touch virtually everyone except those at the top of the economic ladder.

Since the law was complicated, debated and analyzed more than three years ago, it’s understandable if it’s been forgotten. A refresher: Back then, the law was drafted and approved (with zero Democrat votes) despite the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) forecasting it will increase the budget deficit by $2.2 trillion over a decade.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz in the New York Times recently wrote, “Republicans – who suddenly lost their grasp on their self-described fiscal conservatism – saw a chance to give their rich friends and corporations a big thank you for campaign contributions.

“But the tax cuts they promised these donors produced projections [of] budget deficits,” he continued. “To reduce that stomach-churning amount, they had to phase-in higher taxes on ordinary Americans.”

Now, according to the CBO and the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, taxpayers with incomes of $20,000-$30,000 could owe another $365 this year. Keep in mind that the Federal Poverty Level for a family of four is $26,200, so that $365 will come from folks already having a hard time.

In Illinois, the sleight-of-hand was performed by the expensive campaign to defeat the Fair Tax amendment and the predictable consequences, financially and politically.

Shortly after November voters defeated that measure – to substitute a progressive income tax based on individual income for the current “flat tax” that has everyone pay the same, apart from their wealth – Gov. J.B. Pritzker warned of possible future spending cuts to deal with fiscal woes without that new revenue.

The governor warned that “middle class, working class and poor families will likely suffer from cuts to public safety, education, human services and environmental safety – and the potential layoffs will make the economic recession worse.”

This week, however, Pritzker said he’s presenting a budget proposal to lawmakers that doesn’t increase overall state spending or raise the flat-rate income tax (4.95%). The General Assembly will debate the budget, and many will mostly posture.

For instance, Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, who opposed the Fair Tax, has blasted Democrats for having previously passed a “budget based on hypothetical revenue and false promises.”

The state has had financial problems for decades, under Democratic and Republican legislatures and governors, from billions in unpaid bills to pension obligations plus the ongoing essential services taxpayers rely on, from schools to state police.

The Fair Tax’s opposition claimed that voting against the referendum was casting a ballot for No New Tax, which was false. Besides, though a progressive tax system would be better, future challenges may be so significant that fewer services or higher taxes could be necessary. But whose?

After Fair Tax’s defeat, perhaps everyone’s.

Here are questions for the victorious anti-Fair Tax crowd of Big Business and their Springfield mouthpieces: What services do you favor cutting? If that prospect is unpopular with the people you’re supposed to represent, what new revenue do you instead propose (revenue that Fair Tax would have provided, studies showed)?

And drop the worthless comments about “kicking the can down the road,” trimming vague “waste,” or the unconstitutional betrayal of pensioners. Be specific.

As for new revenue, relying on gambling and marijuana seems inadequate. Come up with something promising and feasible.

So, Rep. Durkin and GOP colleagues pandering to the anti-tax (something-for-nothing) mindset: Ideas?

What programs would you abolish? Who would you fire? Do you favor eliminating townships that serve rural areas, or social-service agencies vital to cities? Which bridges and roads would you ignore? Which age group will be “de-funded” – children at risk? Schoolkids? College students? Seniors at home or in group settings?

Or are you just against everything, celebrating when regular citizens are struggling, disappointed or angry because you can exploit that for political gain?

‘Ballad of an American’ a reminder of great Black citizen

 

Bill Knight column for 2-15, 16 or 17, 2021

In some ways, Black History Month marginalizes African Americans’ heritage, limiting it to the year’s shortest month. But it’s at least an occasion for us to remember – to take stock of our nation and neighbors.

Today, a few African Americans stand out in my heart and head: scholar Cornel West, athlete LeBron James, attorney Eric Holder, singer John Legend, actor Denzel Washington, activist Stacey Abrams and the late, great labor leader Karen Lewis.

In history, much of the talent embodied in these successful, influential people existed in one man: Paul Robeson, the subject of a compelling new book: “Ballad of an American: A Graphic Biography of Paul Robeson.”

The 142-page trade paperback is a handsome package comparable to nonfiction graphic presentations about Abraham Lincoln, Eugene Debs and others – especially the “March” trilogy from 2013-2016 by and about the late Congressman and Civil Rights icon John Lewis. Here, author and artist Sharon Rudahl in five sections powerfully illustrates and illuminates the inspiring and occasionally tragic tale of a towering figure.

In a 2017 book, “No Way But This: In Search of Paul Robeson,” biographer Jeff Sparrow wrote, “Paul Robeson possessed one of the most beautiful voices of the 20th century. He was an acclaimed stage actor. He could sing in more than 20 different languages; he held a law degree; he won prizes for oratory. He was widely acknowledged as the greatest American footballer of his generation. But he was also a political activist who, in the 1930s and 1940s, exerted an influence comparable to Martin Luther King and Malcolm X in a later era.”

Rudahl vividly, movingly shows how Robseson’s experiences were varied yet had threads of resisting injustice and abuse, inevitably leading to the charismatic character championing equality through advocacy for Blacks and working people, and fighting fascism. He endured racism growing up in New Jersey and at Rutgers University, where he became a two-time All-American football player before graduating as valedictorian. He practiced as an attorney before expanding amateur stints as an actor and singer to a professional career, early with the Provincetown Players with Eugene O’Neill, John Reed and other artist/activists, and starred in O’Neill’s “All God’s Chillun Got Wings.”

In 1927, Robeson gave a show-stopping performance in Oscar Hammerstein and Jerome Kern’s “Show Boat,” for which he’s remembered for singing “Ol’ Man River” on stage and film, and he also starred in a dozen memorable movies including “The Emperor Jones” and “Othello.”

He sang worldwide, refusing to appear at segregated venues. A group of singing Welsh miners protesting a years-long struggle caught his attention in 1929, and he became a strong advocate for organized labor. Touring Europe, he appreciated better race relations there and for a time lived in London, befriending Emma Goldman, James Joyce and other progressives. En route to Russia in 1934, Robeson traveled through Berlin, where he defied Nazi guards at a train station.

During the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War foreshadowing World War II, he backed the anti-fascist Loyalists and thereafter was publicly supportive of anti-fascist and Communist causes, though he never became a Communist.

In the 1950s’ shameful Red Scare era, Congress held hearings accusing citizens of being Communists, which led prevented many people from working. Robeson testified before the House Unamerican Activities Committee and bristled when asked why he didn’t move to the Soviet Union: “Because my father was a slave, and my people died to build this country, and I am going to stay here, and have a part of it just like you. And no fascist-minded people will drive me from it. Is that clear?

“I am not being tried for whether I am a Communist,” he said. “I am being tried for fighting for the rights of my people,” he said. “I am here because I am opposing the neo-fascist cause which I see arising in these committees. You are the un-Americans, and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.”

They weren’t. Anti-Communist hysteria increased, and Robeson was railroaded, his passport revoked, his career ruined. Still, illegally blacklisted until 1958, his spirit endured even as his health failed.

“The artist must take sides,” Robeson had explained in 1937. “He must elect to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice.”

A 10-page Afterword expands on this remarkable Renaissance man, who should not be forgotten.

Feeney for the people

 

Bill Knight column for 2-4, 5 or 6, 2021

 Anne Feeney’s fiery, flowing red hair somehow contrasted with her silky singing as she played a rousing set of protest songs, folk and bluegrass and other numbers from the back of a truck.

And from the heart.

She was full of fun and fury.

That was in 1995 at a Decatur demonstration following a march of hundreds of Auto Workers, Rubber Workers, Paperworkers and supporters protesting Caterpillar, Bridgestone/Firestone and A.E. Staley.

Now, her strong voice is silent.

Last week, the popular 69-year-old troubadour died from COVID-19 at a Pittsburgh hospital.

She and I crossed paths a few times over the decades, but the hard-working musician activist was inspiring for many people for many years.

We both protested at the 1972 Republican National Convention in Miami Beach and demonstrated at the Detroit Newspaper strike/lockout in the 1990s, but we actually interacted just twice, at a performance at an Illinois community college and at the Decatur rally. There, her performance invigorated a crowd already moved by speakers ranging from AFL-CIO president Tom Donahue, Mine Workers vice-president Cecil Roberts and the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

Also speaking was Father Martin Mangan, who describing downstate Illinois during strikes and lockouts as “a war zone.”

Feeney’s tune “War on Workers” that year became a grassroots hit, and ever since a crowd-pleasing anthem, along with “Have You Been to Jail for Justice,” memorably covered by Peter, Paul & Mary.

She made a dozen albums and appeared onstage with Pete Seeger, Billy Bragg, John Prine, Loretta Lynn and the Indigo Girls, playing 200 to 300 times a year at rallies, festival, concert halls and especially demonstrations until a 2010 lung cancer diagnosis, which she beat for five years.

After it recurred, she performed sporadically and was hospitalized for therapy for a broken back when she contracted COVID.

Guitarist Tom Morello from Rage Against the Machine said, “The great folk musician Anne Feeney was a fearless and formidable force for justice and workers’ rights onstage, in the studio, and on the picket line. Through her art and through her example our comrade will continue to be a beacon of hope and solidarity for future generations.”

The granddaughter of William Patrick Feeney, an Irish immigrant and organizer for mine workers, Feeney started to play guitar as a student at a Catholic high school and first performed live at an anti-war rally in 1969. She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and its law school, and practiced law for a while, upending prosecutors’ presumptuous line “for the people” by actually representing “the people”: domestic-violence victims, refugees and the dispossessed.

But in 1987 she left that vocation for another calling, quitting as a trial attorney to embark on a rank-and-file music career wielding her Martin guitar in some 4,000 shows throughout North America and Europe.

The shows mostly were to help people raise money or raise awareness, or to “boost the troops”: steelworkers and farm workers, railroad workers and car wash workers, and more. She played at 1999’s World Trade Organization protests in Seattle, at the March for Women’s Lives in Washington in 2004, at 2011’s Wisconsin Uprising in Madison, and countless gigs in union halls, churches and picket lines to provide a soundtrack to people’s struggles.

In 2005, the Labor Heritage Foundation recognized her lifetime achievements with its Joe Hill Award.

A local leader in the American Federation of Musicians, she also was a “Wobbly” in the Industrial Workers of the World and a member of the National Organization for Woman.

“She made an incalculable contribution to the movement,” commented Alexandra Bradbury, editor and co-director of Labor Notes. “She is irreplaceable and gone too soon.”

Often describing herself as a “performer, producer and hellraiser,” Feeney elaborated in 2017, telling the independent United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America’s publication UE News her appreciation for music and social justice.

“I can’t even imagine the Civil Rights movement without singing,” Feeney said. “I can’t imagine the early CIO days without singing. Music instills power and bravery. Those kids, sweating in those Alabama churches, singing ‘We Shall Not Be Moved,’ then walking right out into a barrage of police dogs and fire hoses.

“It’s the music that allowed them to face all of that, and build the movement and change the world,” she said.

Her family and friends conveyed her wish that instead of flowers, people mail donations in her memory to the Thomas Merton Center, a grassroots organization working to educate and ask moral questions about poverty, workers' rights, racism, environmental and economic justice, peace and nonviolence: 5129 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15224.