As off budget spending, tax exemptions lack the accountability that other state spending undergoes when the state approves its biennial budget. Tax exemptions are expenditures of state money that would otherwise be available to fund state services. Tax exemptions reduce available funds for education, health care and other important state services. Many tax exemptions are actually tax loopholes that benefit special interests but don't meet state priorities for funding. Tuition doubled for my son and daughter between when they started college and graduated. Washington State needs to provide sufficient revenue to keep college affordable for all students so we have an educated workforce for the future. Washington State currently has over 650 tax exemptions. According to the State Department of Revenue in the last biennium, while Washington State collected some $21 billion in B&O, sales and use taxes, it excluded from collection over $20 billion in tax exemptions. The system is broken when if everyone paid the same in taxes, the state would have twice as much revenue.. Requiring that the Washington State Legislature adopt a Tax Expenditure Budget every two years as part of the biennial budget process would make tax exemptions more transparent and accountable to Washington taxpayers. The Legislature needs to prioritize tax exemptions and close tax loopholes not meeting state needs. Creating a Tax Expenditure Budget detailing the tax expenditures (exemptions) and the amount of revenue the Legislature is not collecting, will help Legislators to prioritize closing tax loopholes not meeting state priorities and needs. Petition by Steve Zemke, Director Tax Sanity www.taxsanity.org

In Washington State, the middle class and poor pay a higher percentage of their income in state taxes than do the rich, due to a reliance on the regressive sales tax to fund state government. Even the Business and Occupation tax is regressive: it taxes revenue, not profit, and so it favors profitable corporations over struggling small businesses. Another cause of unfairness is the existence of tax loopholes for certain wealthy corporations. In fact, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, Washington State has the most regressive tax system in the nation. The poorest 20% of non-elderly Washingtonians pay 17% of their income in state taxes; the richest 1% pay under 3% of their income in state taxes. (Source: http://www.itep.org/pdf/wa.pdf .) The state desperately needs a reliable source of funds to pay for education pursuant to the State Supreme Court decision in the McCleary case, which declares that the legislature is underfunding K-12 education. Additionally, in recent years the state has had to slash funding for social services and for higher education, causing real suffering among vulnerable people, threatening our prosperity and safety, and drastically raising the cost of a college education. Voters in 2010 rejected I-1098, the initiative to establish a high earners' income tax in Washington State. Most voters were voting against their own self-interest, because only the richest 2% of citizens would have seen their taxes rise. But up until now, only a few advocacy groups have spoken up about this issue. Our political leaders should make the effort to educate the public about all the ways we need government and about progressive taxation. In other words, our political leaders should actually lead and not just follow. There are proposals afloat to raise the gas tax and to pass a carbon tax; both of those are regressive. A capital gains tax and a tax expenditure budget are also under consideration. These changes to our tax system deserve thorough discussion and analysis. The proposed high level commission, hearings, speeches and essays will help move the state towards a sustainable and equitable funding model. Note: this petition was co-authored with Steve Zemke of TaxSanity.org . For discussion of this effort, please visit: https://groups.google.com/d/forum/wafairtaxes http://fairtaxesnow.us/ To see the list of signers and their comments, please visit: http://waliberals.org/WATaxFixers.html Here is a resolution which your political organization might pass: http://waliberals.org/resolution-in-support-of-fixing-washington-states-unfair-tax-system/2013/11/19/

There is a strong feeling among workers today that they would be willing to support a union and even join or organize one in their workplaces. It is a known fact that the business lobby and their GOP allies have met Labor with resistance and pushback over many decades, eroding hard-won rights that have proven beneficial to everyone who works. Therefore, We the People, in order to form a more perfect Union, call upon You, Mr. President, to issue three (3) separate Executive Orders, the first of which would prohibit the destructive so-called Right to Work laws in all states across the country. The second request is for an order mandating the all-but forgotten EFCA bill, and the third would mandate the posting of workers' rights under Section 7 of the NLRA. The troops are ready to go.

The appropriate time to discuss the level of government spending is at the time of budget negotiations. The need to increase the debt ceiling has become a dangerous tool in the hands of a small minority who have shown themselves capable of harming not only our economy but also the world economy in order to achieve their goal of small government.

I grew up in this area and have lived here all my life. We didn’t have much growing up -- I remember Christmas with very few presents. I want to give my kids a better life, and working at GE, I’m on my way to doing that, but only if the plant stays open. There aren’t a lot of other good jobs around here. I started working at GE eight years ago. I just got onto first shift, so now I can go to my son’s hockey games and help my daughter with her homework. If they close the plant, I’ll probably have to go back to working two jobs, working off shifts, only seeing my family on the weekend if at all. None of us are getting rich working at GE. We’re not stashing away money in offshore tax havens or buying yachts, we’re spending money at local businesses. If GE destroys 200 good-paying jobs here in Fort Edward, it’s going to hurt small business and devastate the local economy. I’ve worked hard, I’ve never slacked. Every year this plant has been profitable. GE should keep this plant open, and our politicians should stand up and do everything they can to save our jobs. It’s only right.

Recently released research shows how low-wage, no-benefit fast food jobs force workers to rely on public assistance programs, leaving our tax-dollars to foot the bill-- to the tune of $708 million. If you think it’s outrageous that our tax dollars are being used to line the pockets of fast food corporations instead of going to schools, park and other public services that would benefit all New Yorkers, sign our petition to the members of the New York State Legislature demanding they investigate this fast food swindle.

[UPDATE: New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan has responded to this petition: "The Times Is Working on Ways to Make Numbers-Based Stories Clearer for Readers" http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/18/the-times-is-working-on-ways-to-make-numbers-based-stories-clearer-for-readers] Economist Dean Baker writes: "It is the media’s job to inform the public about the budget. They are clearly failing badly. A major reason is very simple. When they write about the budget they almost never put the numbers in context. As a result, readers might hear that we’re spending $15 billion on foreign aid or $400 million on the CPB [Corporation for Public Broadcasting] and think that this is a lot of money...But it is not a lot of money for the federal government. This point would be immediately apparent in every news report on the budget if the standard practice were to report budget items as a share of the budget instead of in dollar terms. Telling readers that spending on CPB takes up 0.012 percent of the budget immediately tells them how important this spending is to the government. Telling readers that we’re spending $400 million on CPB tells the overwhelming majority of readers almost nothing... Fortunately the New York Times has a public editor, Margaret Sullivan, who takes journalistic standards seriously. There is good reason to believe that if enough people were to raise this issue with her that she would look into the issue and press the matter with the paper’s editors. If the New York Times were to change its practice for budget reporting most of the rest of the media would almost certainly follow. The NYT is recognized as the preeminent newspaper in the country. Their standards are taken seriously by everyone." -"The Tea Party and the New York Times Shut Down the Government," Dean Baker, Truthout, 14 October 2013 http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/19402-the-tea-party-and-the-new-york-times-shut-down-the-government

A report came out October 15 showing that 52% of fast food employees’ families are forced to rely on social safety net programs, like Food Stamps or Medicaid, because we’re paid so little. And it costs taxpayers an unthinkable $7 BILLION each year. That means your household forks over about $61 a year so that McDonald’s can rake in $5.5 billion and pay their CEO millions. We don’t want to rely on public assistance -- we would much rather receive an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s (hard!) work. But we have kids to feed, families to support and have no other choice. It’s not okay. And I hope you’ll help us change it today. Tell the top eight fast food chains to pay us $15 an hour so we don’t have to rely on social safety net programs

This bill is important because it will not allow employers to limit wage rates based on sex. Employers will only be able to decide wage rates based on education, training, and experience. This bill will also prohibit employer retaliation to employee complaints, meaning, an employer will not be able to make wage cuts to an employee because of another employee complaint. This is an important bill for woman's rights and if passed will greatly impact the future of woman in the workplace.

The purpose of this petition is to create American Jobs encourage advocacy sufficient resulting in a tax system that is fair, transparent and equal to society's views on appropriately balanced income and wealth distribution. The corporate share of federal revenue has declined by more than 60% over the last 50 years --- plummeting from 22% to 8%. Over the decade corporations have spent billions to get favored treatment as evidence documents corporations have been benefited with a return of more than 2,000% on their investment. Corporations do not pay their fair share of federal taxes yet promote a pro-growth strategy of austerity for American citizens and prosperity for themselves using the tax code as their “profit center” to boost corporate profits. Lawmakers substantially grant favors to corporations at the behest of corporate lobbyist consistently, to the detriment of ordinary citizens. This has accelerated the wealth gap according to representative studies showing in 2009 white families’ median income was $113,149 for Latino families their median income was $6,325 for and black families median income was $5,677. Worst, today more than 22 million Americans are unemployed. As a solution to closing the wealth gap and recognizing that: ➢ All global wealth passes through tax havens, and ➢ One-third of all wealth resides in cross-border tax havens This petition hereby demands the following: 1. Congress establish a United States based tax haven thereby creating a new economy, whose primary objective is to serve corporations as the authorized American tax haven. This tax haven will require benefiting corporations to accurately report all taxes paid in all countries regardless of where the income was generated, and to respect and adhere to a social contract between governments and citizens in promoting a tax system that eliminates wealth inequality. 2. Congress terminates all corporate tax credits for moving jobs off shore and outsourcing of services offshore. We demand that Congress: * Provide incentives for companies that hire Americans to work onshore * Offer incentives for corporations that give vendor opportunities to Americans * Provide a special tax incentive to corporations that establish a closely aligned relationship to colleges and universities developing curriculums to fill their labor needs over at least a 5-year or more period of time 3. Passes legislation prior to February 2014 ---exceeding the basic Action Plan released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and endorsed by the G20, the world’s premier forum of Leaders representing economies creating more than 80 percent of global GDP--- agreeing to crack down on corporate tax evasion. 4. Require the Tax Reform Coalitions, all corporations, or their designated representatives, now to enter into an agreement with those representing the best interests of the 99% to jointly present to Congress preferred legislation that advances the G-20 Action Plan on cracking down on corporate tax evasion, avoidance and manipulation not later than January 15, 2014, adhering to the established schedule of the OEDC. 5. Put forth the strongest possible effort to conduct investigations, make business analyses, formalize business plans and hold hearings exercising all options to expeditiously complete the authorization of a United States tax haven. Simultaneously, companies with offshore funds, estimated now at $2 trillion, will be required to invest here in the United States tax haven or will be denied tax credits offshore and moreover denied a presence in the United States tax haven. We urge The United States Congress to give these five demands urgent attention and immediate implementation.

On Oct 9th, on the Senate floor Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) showboated his support for government-run and government-operated health care for our veterans, while still persisting to defund the Affordable Care Act at the expense of shutting down the federal government. Tell Sen. Ted Cruz he can't have it both ways. If supports government run health care for veterans, then he should support it for citizens too.

On Oct. 9th, Rep. Coffman wrote an op-ed in the Denver Post, saying he would argue for a clean spending bill on the floor of the House of Representatives. Now we need him to now walk his talk and take leadership in passing a clean budget. Millions of Coloradans and Americans are suffering under fiscal uncertainty from this shutdown. If Representatives like Coffman don't pass a clean budget before Oct. 17th, our country will default on its debt and fall into another recession.