Ep. 51: Regressive and Racist: A Chat About Taxes

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EQ: How are taxes a social justice issue and what are smart people doing about it?

Guest: Alison Cheung, Guest from Channel 253 Adult Civics Happy Hour “The Case for Progressive Taxation”

Communications Hub Manager at Fuse Washington, a progressive political organization. Alison is a graduate of the University of Washington, where she worked on education accessibility and yelled a lot about racist housing covenants. She is currently working on tax reform. 

Alison drops some serious knowledge about Washington’s ass-backwards tax system and how it hurts people in poverty, especially people of color. Sub-topics include her effort to stop using the word marginalized (see UW Dream Project), the important work of Fuse Washington in tax justice issues, helping progressives tell a better story (via The Poet Salon and All in For Washington), working with communities that have been most impacted by our tax structure there, the systemic problems with our state tax structure (it’s regressive!), and possible solutions (a more progressive Real estate excise tax, ending Tax Breaks & loop holes - Washington State Budget & Policy Center, better distribution of wealth, and actually getting people to care about poor Black and brown communities). Additional reading includes (but is not limited to): How Racism Kept Black Tacomans from Buying Houses for Decades.

Champagne & Real Pain:

  • Champagne - we want to raise a glass for:

    • Ava DuVernay for her new Netflix creation, “When They See Us” about the Central Park 5. DuVernay is a queen of cinema and a national treasure. 

    • Roxanne Gay!! Redefining a type of voice a queer woman can have

    • EJ Ramos--model minority mix is erasing other Asians

  • Real Pain - we want to call one out for

    • Meghan McCain for hypocritically accusing Amy Klobuchar of exploiting her father John McCain’s legacy for political gain. That’s literally Meghan’s day job. 

Do Your Fudging Homework:

  • Annie: pressure your legislators to fix our broken tax system that hurts everyone except the wealthiest. Go on leg.wa.gov to find their contact information and turn up the heat. 

  • Hope: The Breakup Playlist on Netflix

  • Alison: Jeff Chang “We Gonna Be Aight” (check out the NerdFarmReads episode)