Revenue Is a Progressive Issue

Paul Soglin at Waxing America hits it right on the head:

“We have to change the legislature. We need more progressive representation to advance real taxation reforms, not phony tax-cutting handcuffs on local governments like TABOR and all its sloganeering progeny.

The prospects are grim but we have no choice. If a movement with the intensity of Madison's anti-smoking forces launched a campaign on a statewide basis, the reforms would take place. It is time to stop focusing on individual environmental, choice, and other progressive issues and focus on revenue reforms. A legislature capable of enacting the appropriate revenue reforms would probably do those other things as well.”

The revenue issue is a big one, particularly with people who have been swept up in the rhetoric of the “taxpayer revolt." But these people are not lost to the Republican side. There are progressive solutions to this issue; there needs to be a concerted effort at crafting a comprehensive Democratic platform on revenue reform in order to infuse that thinking into the public mindset.

It’s either that or suffer through this revenue debate under the terms dictated by conservative Republicans.