DSA members up and down California have the opportunity to help pass the largest tax increase in history on California’s wealthiest commercial property owners, raising $10-12 billion per year for public education and social services.
With the Movement for Black Lives uprising deepening into the call for defunding the police, it will be necessary to expand revenues required to build alternative, sustainable public services and practices. Progressive taxation—especially taxing the rich—is an essential path to accomplish that goal. “Schools and Communities First” (SCF), on the November 3 ballot, is backed by labor and opposed by the most reactionary sectors of capital.
A three-part education series will provide background for DSA participation in the campaign. Part I reviews the story of austerity politics and increasing inequality in California with Prop 13—which SCF proposes to reform—from 1978 to the present. Part II looks at the history of public sector unionism and how a left wing labor-community coalition won Prop 30, a ‘tax the rich’ ballot measure, in 2012. Part III will supply an overview of the SCF campaign, and explore how DSA members can plug in effectively. Biweekly on ZOOM, beginning Monday June 29, presented by labor historian Fred Glass.
Part 1 June 29 : https://www.facebook.com/events/600548957235363/
Part 2 July 13: https://www.facebook.com/events/318531225818023/
Part 3 July 27: https://www.facebook.com/events/1000902553662906/