Once and for all
 

The AFT has responded to the budget crisis with proposals aimed at taking states beyond the quick fix.

The union convened a Budget Crisis Task Force last year to develop a coordinated response to state shortfalls, and the five-point program the panel developed is designed to put public services on sure footing and break the boom-bust budgeting cycle that for decades has jeopardized the critical work performed by AFT members. In statehouses across America, AFT leaders and activists are urging lawmakers to:

• uncouple the state's tax structure from the federal tax code;

• develop progressive, equitable strategies that fairly tax individuals and businesses;

• change the tax structure to reflect an economic climate where services play a more important role but contribute nothing to the tax base;

• close tax loopholes that allow large corporations to avoid paying any tax in the states in which they operate; and

• encourage efficient government procurement and operations.

AFT's research department has developed deficit-reduction proposals for Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and Washington. Similar proposals are being written for Colorado, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio and Oklahoma. The message that AFT leaders are delivering is not a crisis response but a true long-term solution, AFT research department director Jewell Gould explains.

"By the next economic cycle, we need to have a tax base in place that allows us to give help to cities and allows states to have reserves in place," he says. "It's the only way to make sure that states and cities aren't savaged" in future downturns.

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