The Central City Task Force--packed with corporate interests and aligned with the Portland Metro Chamber (PMC, aka the Portland Business Association, PBA)--has continued arguing that taxes on the wealthy and corporations are bad, and continued attacking voter-approved measures like the Portland Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund (PCEF), Preschool for All (PfA), and the Metro Supportive Housing Services (SHS) programs.
But as economist Mary King has argued, and as Institute for Policy Studies research supports, the solution to economic woes is not to cut the already low taxes on the very wealthy, but instead to invest in workers and young families. States that have raised taxes on high-income earners have seen wealth expand for everyone, and Portland's voter-approved taxes have coincided with increasing numbers of high-income households in Multnomah County.
Frann Michel talks with Mary King about taxing the rich, maintaining program reserves to balance swings in income, and reorienting city policy.
Mary King is Economics Professor Emerita at Portland State University, a columnist with Portland's Street Roots newspaper, a former candidate for Oregon State Treasurer with the Working Families Party, and an activist and organizer here in Portland. She has previously appeared on the Old Mole discussing taxation & taxes, transit fares, eviction representation, and employment scheduling.
Image: Photo "Tax the Rich" by Jon Evans, CC by 2.0, cropped, showing a wall painted with those words and colorful flowers.