As a classconscious prole, I'm always fascinated with the question of why a reformist political party would pick certain limits as being more reasonable than others.
For instance:
chuck at hvgreens.org wrote:
> a) A proposed change to the State Constitution
that would both
lower the
>State Sales Tax from 6% to 5% and increase taxes on
the top 5% (ie.
income >=
>$139K/year) of the income distribution an additional
4%. The net
result would
>be an increase in revenue to the State of about $700
million, which
would
>offset a deficit of $1-2 billion in the current
fiscal year.
*******************************************************
Sales taxes are inherently regressive. Why not dream up a scheme to abolish them in favour of getting the wealth which we workers create back to us from a piece of the pie which the employing class already enjoys e.g. corporate profits or rents above a certain level? *******************************************************
> b) Require all businesses in the state to provide
40 hours of paid
vacation
>for each 13 weeks of employment. The 40 hours would
apply even if the
job in
>question is only part-time.
******************************************************* Not bad. Any gain in free-time is a gain in freedom from wage-slavery. Of course, I'd like to see more done in this area. Perhaps, during the inevitable debates on this question, your party could be good enough to bring up the question of who actually is creating the wealth for the employers--i.e. the ones who would begrudge proles a little more time off for good behaviour. *****
> c) Place a wage tax of $0.75/hour that would be
used to fund a
defined
>benefit pension plan for all workers in the state.
********
What is a wage tax? Do you mean that you want to propose to take even more of the wealth we create from us in order to fund our own retirement?
If so, think again. Take the money from those who enjoy the lion's share of what we create in the first place. Also, make damn certain that this can't be used as a wedge issue to trash the existing (if inadequate) Social Security System. *******
Also, index the
minimum
>retirement age to collect the pension benefits to the
unemployment
rate so the
>minimum age drops when unemployment goes up.
********
Ok, no problem. Let's start the minimum age between
50 and 55, ok?
Hi-ho, Mike B)
===== ***************************************************************** "Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy."
Benjamin Franklin
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