“Given Rhode Island’s current economic condition – with high unemployment and stagnant population growth – I have reservations about adopting policies that could put us at a competitive disadvantage when compared to other states,” she said in a prepared statement. “The best way to increase tax revenue is to grow our state’s overall economy so every Rhode Islander benefits from our success.”
Earlier this month, when I first asked Raimondo about the Miller-Cimini income tax bills, that would repeal the flat income tax and raise back the rates on Rhode Island’s richest residents to the where they were lowered from starting in 2007, she said she hadn’t heard of the effort – even though it had been covered by this news outlet, as well as the Providence Journal, WPRI and RI Public Radio, among others.
In her statement that her deputy chief of staff Joy Fox gave me more recently, Raimondo said: “Representative Cimini and Senator Miller should be commended for reminding all Rhode Islanders about the increasing levels of income inequality across our state, and by extension our country. I look forward to working with Representative Cimini and Senator Miller to actively pursue economic development policies and opportunities that improve our state for everyone.”
When asked about Raimondo’s position on the tax equity bills, George Nee, president of the local AFL-CIO, who has been helping to lead the charge for the bills passage, said, “I don’t know if I’m surprised but I’m certainly disappointed. I still don’t see the connection between jobs and taxes.”
Nee, and other supporters of the tax equity bills, have pointed to the fact that unemployment in Rhode Island has gone up as income tax rates for the affluent have gone down. The AFL-CIO also released poll results last week done by Flemming and Associates that indicates 68 percent of Rhode Islanders support the bills, which would raise the income tax rate on those who make more than $250,000 but subsequently lower it when the unemployment rate drops.
“We will continue to provide her with information to try to change her mind,” Nee said. “I was hoping she would see this as a necessary change in policy on both a state and federal level.”
]]>What’s wrong with our tax structure in Rhode Island?
If you’re part of the 98% of Rhode Islanders making under $250,000 a year you’re paying your fair share and more. So why does the General Assembly say we don’t have the revenue to invest in affordable housing for all Rhode Islanders, making college affordable, or school breakfast programs in our public schools?
The problem is the way we’re raising revenue.
Rhode Island’s tax structure is inherently regressive, that means the poorer you are the higher share of your income you’re paying in taxes. And the numbers are astonishing!
When you combine all the taxes we pay, sales, property, income and car taxes, the 20% of Rhode Islanders who are living on $18,000 a year or less are forking over 11.9% of their annual income in taxes. For the top 1%, the people making over $390,000 a year it’s just 5.6%.
Think of it this way. If Warren Buffet and his secretary both go buy the same toaster and they both pay 7% sales tax on it, that flat tax rate means a lot more to his secretary. Its money that she can’t spend on basic necessities, but for Warren Buffet it doesn’t even make a dent.
We can start fixing our regressive tax structure this year with the Miller Cimini Tax Equity bill, and we need your help to do it!
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