This week’s topic addressed our state’s pre existing issues with equity, taxation, and funding, and how those issues have been deepened by the COVID-19 crisis.
Brandon McKoy, President at New Jersey Policy Perspective, spoke on New Jersey’s state tax policy’s direct link to issues of equity, and how the Covid-19 crisis has impacted working class communities and communities of color most aggressively. Brandon McKoy emphasized that New Jersey needs to avoid massive cuts to public assets at all costs, and that the consequences of austerity will be dire for our most vulnerable communities. Brandon outlined a range of strategies for bringing in new revenue, underscoring the urgent need for bonding, but also driving home that equitable taxation measures such as a millionaires’ tax must be part of the picture.
Brandon Castro, Campaign Organizer and the Work Environment Council, spoke on WEC’s efforts over the past three years to create a common analysis among workers, activists and organizers around the common obstacle of Wall Street’s looting of our economy, and to mobilize those advocates into a fighting force for a more equitable New Jersey. Brandon Castro touched on public banking as a way for the state to reassess its values and to invest directly in Covid-19 relief, racial justice, environmental justice, and good paying jobs. More than 70 people attended this webinar.
For more information regarding New Jersey Policy Perspective, click here.
For more information regarding the fight for equitable, sustainable taxation in New Jersey, click here.
For more information on public banking, see WEC’s op-ed here.
To sign the petition for a public bank in New Jersey, click here.
For more information on how to become involved with the Public Need Program at WEC, contact Brandon Castro at [email protected]
