I’m with Tom Steyer: It’s the Economy, Stupid
By Mae Bradshaw, member of the Rye Budget Committee in New Hampshire.
When I saw Tom Steyer on the debate stage in Manchester Friday night, I knew that he has it what it takes to take down Donald Trump on the economy. As a member of the Town of Rye’s budget committee, I am a strong believer in responsible fiscal leadership. Budgets are moral documents, and any honest observer would conclude that our current government is immoral; our fiscal priorities are way out of whack. From engaging in endless wars for foreign oil to slashing investment in public health and education to handing massive tax breaks to multinational corporations and the ultrawealthy, our government has failed to make critical steps to address wealth inequality.
We may have low unemployment right now under this administration, but that obscures the fact that many of these jobs are low-paying and folks need to take on multiple jobs just to barely scrape by. Corporate productivity and profits have soared, as worker wages continue to stagnate.
The nature of wealth inequality we see in our state and country today is truly abhorrent, with over 100,000 Granite Staters living at or below the poverty line as of 2019 and over 23,000 households earning less than $10,000 annually. The gap between the ultra-wealthy and the rest of us is greater than ever before. It’s an issue I have heard almost every presidential candidate talk about, but there is only one whom I trust to properly address the issue: Tom Steyer.
Through his words — but more importantly his actions — Tom has shown that he is committed to economic justice for all Americans. His background includes building both a successful, multi-billion dollar international business and grassroots movements to pressure Congress to impeach our criminal president and to pass meaningful legislation to address our climate crisis. Tom is the only candidate who can go toe-to-toe with Trump on the economy, and expose him for what he is: a fraud and a failure.
Tom has the knowledge of markets and movements to know that the only way to build real economic prosperity for all Americans is to put people over profits. In Rye, I see the disparity between low and high-income residents growing wider and deeper, and getting worse than ever under the morally bankrupt policies of this administration.
While the Trump administration has cut funds for food stamp programs and disability benefits for Americans in the most need, Tom would expand access to those programs, because he knows that people living in poverty need a hand up to break out of it. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that children, the elderly, or disabled make up about two-thirds of food stamp recipients and that 40 million Americans received nutritional assistance in the average month in 2018.
Unlike Trump’s tax policy, which has given one tax break after another to major corporations and ultra-wealthy individuals, Tom’s plan offers a 10% tax cut to 95% of Americans. In a state with an unemployment rate as low as New Hampshire, our working families deserve a tax plan that lifts them up and puts them on an even playing field. Tom will work to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, which puts money directly in the pockets of hardworking families. He would also expand the Child Tax Credit, which would help countless families pay for necessary expenses by reducing the overall amount of owed taxes.
Tom’s wealth tax plan is as fair a plan as it gets: anyone worth $32 million or above pays 1 penny on the dollar. At $500 million, that number increases to 1.5 pennies. And at $1 billion, two pennies on the dollar, a far cry from the protestations of socialism from the conservative pundit class.
Even with a wealth tax proposal that modest, the country can expect to raise over $1.7 trillion in tax revenue in just over a decade. Revenue like that would go far in making the necessary investments that New Hampshire desperately needs in well-paying jobs, affordable health care, and a smooth transition towards a green energy economy.
Putting money in the pockets of 95% of Americans is an investment in every community, and it’s the right thing to do to start making our economy work for everyone. The bottom line: if Democrats are going to beat Donald Trump in November, we must beat him on the economy, and Tom Steyer is the best candidate for the job.
