Last week Mass Peace Action’s Assistant Director Michelle Cunha traveled to Washington DC to attend a conference on taxes. The event was conceptualized by those responsible for the Tax March in April. Nationwide, there were 200 #TaxMarch events on or around Tax Day (April 15th, annually) with over 125,000 people marching and rallying demanding President Trump show his taxes. MAPA planned the Cambridge Tax March in coalition with American Friends Service Committee and the Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants in which 1500 people attended on one of the first warm and sunny days of the year and included many speakers about how regressive taxing is hurting our economy and the people of the United States.
The conference was an opportunity to connect to activists around the US who participated in the planning of their local march.
While many Americans believe the US is the nation with the highest taxes, in actuality its 4th from the bottom in regards to how much its citizens (and non-citizens) are taxed. Key takeaways from the conference were: documented and undocumented immigrants pay taxes; the Trump Organization is not a corporation; currently there are 7 tax brackets with Tramp and his Republican cohorts would like to pare down to 3; and Ireland is a tax haven for wealthy people and corporations.
The three core components of the #NotOnePenny campaign will be
- Ensure the public opposes tax cuts for millionaires, billionaires, and wealthy corporations
- Ensure the public knows the Republican health care bill (“Trumpcare”) is really a tax cut for the rich at the tune of $400,000 for Trumpets.
- Ensure lawmakers know they will be held accountable if they vote for tax cuts.
MAPA will be working the #NotOnePenny campaign into its People’s Budget campaign. Much like the idea behind #NotOnePenny, the #PeoplesBudget shifts money away from the military industrial complex to fund the things we care about and need: healthcare, education, infrastructure, and many other human needs. If you would like to work on this campaign, or more learn about it, contact Michelle at our office in Cambridge. She’s able to travel to other areas of the state to present information on the campaigns to groups throughout Massachusetts.