The RI Center for Freedom and Prosperity, whose funding sources I look into here, has a so-called “prosperity agenda” that calls for elimination of the sales tax. At first glance this would appear to be a reasonable direction to move our State. It is no secret the sales tax is one of the most regressive forms of taxation affecting the lives of low wage earners, and comprising a much larger percentage of their yearly income than that of wealthier residents of our State.

Taking a deeper look in 2012 the sales tax accounted for $824 million, 28 percent of our state budget. No where in the recommendation to eliminate the sales tax is there a mechanism by which to account for the loss of more than a quarter of our state budget which leads me to ask several questions.

The Center claims the lost revenue from elimination of the sales tax will be offset by increased business. This claim is intellectually dishonest and has been widely discredited. The lost revenue would clearly be made up with one painful cut after another to government services which would come as welcome prize for the Centers anti-labor benefactors.

Is it the position of the Center that a 28 percent reduction in the state budget will benefit individuals with developmental disabilities, elderly men and women, school children, and our state’s proud veterans? Will a 28 percent reduction in the State budget improve the lives of Rhode Islanders who depend on public transit to get to and from work, doctor appointments, and to conduct their daily lives?

When it comes to funding important priorities such as higher education, repairing infrastructure, supporting cities and towns, funding public schools, providing a safety net for those in need, and funding important public services count me as one citizen of Rhode Island who is not willing to play games with over a quarter of our state’s budget.

Although an intriguing concept with the potential to reduce the tax burden on working families there is no distinction made on how to replace the lost revenue associated with elimination of the sales tax. Policy grade- D-

Recently an organization by the name of The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity released what they call a “prosperity agenda” made up of 12 recommendations the report highlights what this particular organization feels are key policy adjustments which will benefit our State and help to turn our economy around.

The Center is funded, in part, by the State Policy Network, which gave it $122,000 in 2011, according to The American Prospect and has several ties to ALEC, the shadowy right-wing bill mill that quickly became very unpopular in Rhode Island politics last year. SPN is closely associated with ALEC. A recent article in The Nation described SPN-funded groups as being:

“…media-savvy organizations—which frequently employ former journalists to churn out position papers, news articles, investigations and social media content with a hard-right slant—bolster the pro-corporate lobbying efforts of the American Legislative Exchange Council. Like ALEC, State Policy Network groups provide an ideological veil for big businesses seeking to advance radical deregulatory policy goals.”

Funded by big business, groups like The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity are lobbying private sector workers to turn on their public sector counterparts. The unstated goal is to frame public servants as the enemy to a thriving economy. As such, the Center’s policy recommendations deserve a closer look and over the next couple days I will examine some of them here.

Behind all the websites, policy studies, press events and acronyms lies a common theme: take; take away bargaining rights, take away retirement security, take away good affordable healthcare, take away work place rules (in place to protect workers), take away jobs, take away decent wages, take away the voice of the worker. Is this the way forward for our state? When did decent wages, affordable healthcare and a secure retirement become a “cost item we simply can no longer afford?”

Mike McDonald
President Local 528, Council 94, AFSCME

Over the course of her first term as General Treasurer, Gina Raimondo, when pressed to make a choice stand with workers or with Wall Street she will choose her friends from New York over hard working Rhode Islanders. At least thus far.

She was endorsed by working men and women throughout Rhode Island and had an opportunity to work with our public employees to collaboratively put together a plan to strengthen our obligation to the men and women who provide vital services for our state. Raimondo chose a different route.

The treasurer chose to call on her Wall Street friends to fund a front group by the name of Engage RI. They raised nearly $1 million, and proceeded to travel from town to town, city to city pitting RIPTA users vs. public employee retirement security, pitting social service providers vs. public employee retirement security, pitting small business owners against public employee retirement security, and worst of all pitting school children against the very public school teachers who work with children every day.

In the end big business financing, financial manipulation, scare tactics, and pitting one Rhode Islander against another was enough to secure passage of the  what has been called “the single most harmful pension reform ever passed in the United States.”

Frozen COLA’s, slashed defined benefits, massive increases in age requirements, and 401k’s with an anemic 1 percent match were just some of the ways Treasurer Raimondo chose to deal with this particular obligation to hard working Rhode Islanders.

Fast forward to 2012, the 38 Studios deal has proved to be a failure and the state is on the hook for over $100 million in the form of a “moral obligation” bond. The dust had yet to settle from media reports and the Governor’s announcement concerning the state’s role in this failed venture there was the treasurer calling for the state to honor its “moral obligation” to the bond holders. She made her opinion known early and often, and continues to assert the state must pay in light of the fact other elected officials, and industry leaders have expressed concern and feel it may not be in the State’s best interest to pay.

As a proud public servant who works side by side with hard working men and women every day it is alarming an elected official in this case the treasurer would put such extraordinary effort into persuading the state to walk away from its “moral obligation” to public employees and teachers.

What is even more alarming is while the treasurer advocated for the state’s “moral obligation” to hard working Rhode Islanders be broken she has consistently asserted her position we cannot under any circumstances walk away from our “moral obligation” to bond holders. I find these two contrasting positions to be especially concerning, and they lead me to question who exactly does our General Treasurer – with gubernatorial aspirations – stand with?

Does she stand with the cashier at the local market, the gas station attendant at the local gas station, the cook at one of our great restaurants; the life guard at one of our beautiful beaches. Does Raimondo stand with the child care provider, the painter, the lobsterman, the nurse and the bus driver?

Or Does the Treasurer stand with the Wall Street insider, the bond holder, and hedge fund partner? Does Treasurer Raimondo stand with John Arnold former ENRON Executive who pumped more than half a million into Engage RI while she pumped her fists to crowds at the State House.

“Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me your budget and I will tell you what your priorities are.”