DC Statehood Green Party

MEDIA ADVISORY

PRESS CONFERENCE NOTICE

[DC Statehood Green Party members & friends invited]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, May 2, 2000

Contact:

David Schwartzman

(202) 829-9063 (home)

(202) 806-8926 (office)

DC STATEHOOD GREEN PARTY CHALLENGES CUTS IN THE SOCIAL

SAFETY NET, OFFERS A PROGRESSIVE PROPOSAL

PRESS CONFERENCE: noon, Wednesday, May 3, 2000, on the

sidewalk in front of One Judiciary Square, 441 4^th

Street NW, Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, DC—Members of the DC Statehood Green

Party (DCSGP) have accused DC government officials of

promoting a phony budgetary crisis that does not

exist, and assert that the District can well afford to

improve schools, give tax relief to the working poor,

and expand DC’s gutted safety net.

A press conference set for noon on Wednesday, May 3,

in front of One Judiciary Square, will challenge

District officials to enact a more humane tax system

and budget. Featured speakers include David

Schwartzman, Howard University professor and DCSGP tax

and budget coordinator, Arturo Griffiths of the Center

for Community Change, and others.

According to Schwartzman, “While our Mayor and Council

squabble about our budget, they and Control Board

chair Alice Rivlin continue to assert that we lack the

tax base to improve funding for schools and

simultaneously pass a District Earned Income Tax

Credit and expand our gutted safety net. We assert the

contrary.”

“Past multimillion dollar surpluses have come in large

part from hefty budget cuts in the social services

network for children, seniors, and the poor,” explains

Schwartzman.

“In spite of the lack of affordable housing and

pending evictions, the Mayor’s proposed budget has

done nothing to restore programs such as Tenants’

Assistance, Emergency Assistance, Chore Aid for

Seniors and Disabled, while proposing still more cuts

in homeless services. Budgeting for Interim Disability

Assistance, a loan on SSI, is still lacking for FY

2001.”

DCSGP believes that recent proposals to expand health

insurance coverage and substance abuse are a start,

but that District government can and must do better

for DC’s most vulnerable residents.

The party wants to see taxes restructured, and offers

a progressive proposal to counteract growing income

inequality and to fund vital programs such as health

insurance for the uninsured.

DCSGP’s proposal addresses the fact that the DC’s

wealthiest have a multibillion dollar taxable income

while paying lower individual local tax rates than low

and middle income residents (Source: Citizens for Tax

Justice). It includes the following key provisions:

· A District Earned Income Tax Credit

· Lower the regressive sales taxes on essentials

· Cancel the Tax Parity Act of 1999 which favors the

· wealthy

· Calculate the District income tax as a percentage of

· the federal income tax payment, thereby making it more

· progressive and capable of generating the necessary

· revenue to restore and enlarge the gutted safety net

Schwartzman says that this method will also simplify

tax filing. Besides DCSGP, the proposal has been

endorsed by the Center for Community Change, Gray

Panthers of Metropolitan Washington, Metro DC

Committee of Correspondence, Project South, Stand for

Our Neighbors, and many local activists.

For more details and documentation, see David

Schwartzman’s testimony before the Finance & Revenue

Committee, DC City Council, on pending tax

legislation, at the DCSGP website: