PSARA Resolutions

PSARA’s affiliation with several larger organizations and coalitions provides us the opportunity to impact the policy discussions and advocacy priorities of these organizations.

At our summer membership meeting, three resolutions were passed and then forwarded to the Washington State Labor Council, AFL/CIO (WSLC) convention and the Washington Alliance for Retired Americans (WASHARA) convention. Adoption means these organizations will advocate for the policies embodied in the resolutions.
Resolution on Tax Expenditures.

One resolution addresses tax exemptions and tax loopholes. Washington has 567 tax exemptions many of which favor narrow special interests. These exemptions commonly continue unexamined session after session while regular budget items receive regular scrutiny. In the last decade, 116 new tax breaks were enacted, costing the taxpayers $1.6 billion over the next two years.

The PSARA resolution supports legislation mandating that each tax expenditure carry an expiration date so that each may be reviewed and renewed or not renewed on a regular basis, that fiscal management be improved by allowing any tax expenditure to be modified or eliminated by a simple majority vote and, in the interest of accountability, minimum reporting requirements be established for any business receiving a tax subsidy.

Resolution on Retirement Security

The number of persons 65 and older will reach 70 million by 2040. These millions are entitled to retirement years marked by economic security and quality, affordable health care. Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are the programs most critical in providing a foundation for a secure retirement. The integrity of these programs is under unceasing assault.

Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid should be strengthened, not undermined. The PSARA resolution calls for establishing a more substantial basic benefit; changing the cost-of-living formula to more accurately reflect retiree expenditures; and changing the benefit formula to compensate primarily women workers for their years out of the work force caring for children or elders.

The resolution commits these organizations to advocate that Congress and the Obama administration reject all proposals that undermine existing Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, and instead enact legislation strengthening these program to enhance the security and quality of life of our millions of retirees and future retirees.

Resolution on State Investment Trust

The state-owned Bank of North Dakota, created in 1919, has for more than 90 years helped to stabilize the economy of North Dakota. During the current severe economic recession, while Washington and other states experience revenue shortages, North Dakota alone of the 50 states has been an island of economic stability. Over the last decade, the Bank of North Dakota, in a state of 600,000 population, has provided a third of a billion dollars to the state’s general fund.

In the 2011 session of the Washington State Legislature, legislation was introduced calling for the establishment of a State Investment Trust patterned after that of the State Bank of North Dakota. This Resolution endorses and calls for active support for legislation to create a State Investment Trust.

CALLING ON CONGRESS TO ADOPT NEW PRIORITIES TO CREATE JOBS, MEET DOMESTIC NEEDS, AND PUT THE NATION ON COURSE TO A MORE JUST, EQUITABLE AND SUSTAINABLE FUTURE

The economic crisis we are experiencing is the worst in eighty years and has had a disproportionate impact on working and poor people and communities of color.

Adopted by PSARA’s Executive Board, this resolution states that the crisis in the U.S. can be directly traced to (1) $3.8 trillion in tax cuts given over ten years to investors, large corporations and the wealthiest households; tax loopholes that allow the rich and many corporations to avoid paying taxes. (2) deregulation of the financial system that allowed greedy reckless banks and Wall Street to take irresponsible risks that produced an economic catastrophe; (3) bailouts to Wall St. and giant corporations paid for by taxpayers; (4) run-away military spending that supports a bloated Pentagon bureaucracy and profiteering military contractors
Taxpayers will pay approximately $172 billion dollars to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan and hundreds of millions more for military actions in Libya. Over one trillion tax payer dollars go to the national security budget (60% increase to the Pentagon since 2001), including a $180 billion ten-year commitment to “modernize” our nuclear arsenal. Additionally, the human cost of these wars to both the U.S. armed forces and to hundreds of thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan has been enormous.

The Resolution states “The severity of the economic crisis has created budget shortfalls at all levels of government that call for a re-examination of the allocation of resources and national spending priorities.” The wars need to be brought to a speedy end and the U.S. Congress should bring these war dollars home and make substantial reductions in overall military spending. These dollars should be used to meet vital human needs, promote job creation, rebuild our infrastructure, aid municipal and state governments, and develop a new economy based upon renewable, sustainable energy and technologies.

Congress must radically reform the tax code so that the burden of taxation is fully progressive, removing loopholes and preventing schemes by which the rich and multinational corporations avoid and evade taxes.

The Resolution calls for the organizations to communicate with their members, actively informing and educating about these issues.

These resolutions will be discussed and debated by organizations with which we are affiliated and if passed, will impact their policies over the years to come. To read the resolutions go to www.psara.org.