Teachers with Whiteboards:The Proposed city income tax

Many progressive factions and lobbies in San Francisco are in favor of a proposed city income tax to be imposed on incomes above $250,000. A similar tax has just passed unanimously with the Seattle city council.

Join/engage Teachers with Whiteboards in a noontime rueful discussion about city income taxes!

Although taxing high incomes is better than nothing, the simplistic thinking which often goes with advocacy of "tax the rich" can sabotage long-term systemic responses to wealth inequality. For instance, in Seattle the din is raised that rising real estate values are leading to higher property taxes that are driving families out of town. We argue that rising land values do belong to society, and that a more profound look at the effect of taxing more of land value would be to squelch land speculation, diminish the amount of money needed to borrow in buying land, lower the need to derive revenue levied upon work (direct taxes such as federal and state income taxes, and indirect taxes on income such as the sales tax).

Join in a lively noon-time discussion while you pick-nic on the sidewalk commons . . . that's what we mean by rue-ful meals!