We Are One: We Demand: Put People First!

by Robby Stern

On March 17th, I was asked to deliver the following statement to approximately 1500 participants in a “Rally To Protect Our Future” on the Capital steps in Olympia. This letter was then delivered by a contingent from the rally to Governor Gregoire and the legislative leadership:

Budget cuts have undermined our state’s quality of life, and have placed the burden for a recession caused by Wall Street greed squarely on the backs of the most vulnerable.

We the people - workers, children, youth, seniors, students, people with disabilities, poor people, the middle class, and disproportionately people of color and immigrants – have already borne the brunt of the recession.

You – the Governor and the State Legislature – have a responsibility to provide moral leadership and call on big corporations and the very wealthy to pay their fair share.

We the people are suffering due to cuts to every public service that supports our American Dream. We are losing our health care and we can no longer see a doctor when we are sick. We are losing our wages and benefits and we struggle every day to put food on the table. Our schools are underfunded and our children are falling behind. Tuition is skyrocketing and our opportunities for a college education are disappearing. Workers compensation, dental care, food assistance, mental health care, and child care have all been slashed. Because of all of these actions, racial inequality in our state is increasing.

Every opportunity that we had to work hard and get ahead is being cut, while billions in tax breaks for the Wall Street banks and wealthy special interests that caused the recession in the first place remain untouched.

To add insult to injury, the state has continued to grant millions in special tax exemptions to the same corporate interests that caused the recession in the first place.

We the people have sacrificed enough.

The wealthiest in our state have not shared in this sacrifice. Millions in tax breaks for big out-of-state banks continue unabated. The wealthiest 1 percent in our state already pay the least in state taxes, but enjoy millions more in tax breaks when they purchase a private jet or pay for non-essential cosmetic surgery.

The state currently has 567 tax breaks on the books that cost taxpayers billions of dollars every year. Instead of cutting vital services, the legislature should be cutting the billions in wasteful corporate tax breaks that aren’t even being reviewed.

It is time for corporations and the wealthiest Washingtonians to share the sacrifice.

By the week of April 4th, we demand that you, the Governor and State Legislature, develop a responsible budget plan that:

• Stops the cuts to public services that support our communities and create jobs, by ending unjustified tax breaks for the wealthy and big corporations.

• Pursues other revenue sources that will restore funding to core services.

• Makes government more accountable and transparent by reviewing and sunsetting wasteful tax breaks when they fail to create jobs or benefit our communities.

• Prevents any new spending on unnecessary tax exemptions that would make the budget deficit worse.

You – the Governor and the State Legislature - have a choice. You can create a budget that lessens human suffering and inequity, or you can protect corporations and the wealthy from sharing the sacrifice.

The people of Washington await your response.”

The wealthy interests and their political and media allies have determined that they will use this Wall Street created economic crisis to implement even deeper attacks on the standard of living and the future well-being of the majority of people in our country. The “Shock Doctrine” is being applied and it is happening at both the federal and state level.

PSARA members and our allies are now being challenged, as never before, to engage in a long term fight to right these wrongs and to put our state and country on a humane and moral path.