Economic Power Project Education Series: Funding Our Futures: Tax Justice in the States
Written by Jessica Garland
For July's Economic Power Project education series briefing, SiX partnered with the State Revenue Alliance (SRA) to overview progress, challenges, and trends on state tax justice initiatives. In the webinar, we also broke down specific tax bills from state legislative sessions and learned from a panel of state elected and advocate champions from the most recent legislative session, sharing lessons and strategies for how states can lead on revenue in the future.
Although federal threats endanger state governments’ abilities to fund the programs working families depend on, states can and are stepping up to advance common sense tax policies that support working families by making the billionaire class and corporations pay their fair share.
Tax justice is the connective tissue between every policy area. Thus, state legislators, grassroots organizations, and policy experts are and must continue collaborating to shift the narrative on revenue, close racial and class wealth disparities, and fund programs that support working families. We see this in the growing diversity of the tax justice movement as well as the innovative, vital, and multi-year wins (whether proactive or defensive) achieved at the state level.
Moderated by Washington State Senator Noel Frame, the panel discussion included Tennessee Rep. Aftyn Behn, Florida Rep. Dr. Anna V. Eskamani, Invest in Our New York (IONY)’s Erica Vladimer, and Mainers for Tax Fairness’ Ryan Tipping. The panelists reflect on the following:
- The Trump administration’s largest transfer of wealth from the working class to billionaires and how that impacts their work to advance tax justice
- Challenges, opportunities, and tips for legislators championing tax justice in states historically opposed to fair tax systems
- Changes in the narrative on tax and revenue over the last few years and in the current political moment
- Components and efforts that contributed to recent tax justice successes in states, and more!
SIX’s Economic Power Project:
SiX’s Economic Power Project is SiX's national economic justice initiative, organizing legislators committed to building economies that empower people and advance justice. We recognize that the concentration of corporate and billionaire power in the economy did not happen by accident nor is it the result of inevitable forces. That harmful concentration of economic and political power is a product of deliberate policy choices over decades. At SiX, we know another world is possible – where our economies center people, not corporate and billionaire profits. And that world starts in the states. Learn more and join here.