DC residents overwhelmingly support a proposal to raise income taxes on households with incomes above $200,000, yet DC Council Chairman Kwame Brown wants to reverse it and is working to identify $21 million in other resources to do so.
But if Brown and other policy makers are able to identify savings, those same resources could be used instead to restore deep budget cuts that would hurt thousands of DC residents ‘ such as homeless services, disability assistance, and mental health services.
DC’s income tax means a lot to all of us. While many think about what we pay in income tax, it also important to remember what it buys. The income tax brings in $1.2 billion a year, supporting almost one-fifth of DC’s locally funded budget. That means DC’s income tax is working throughout the city ‘ in school classrooms, in health clinics, in parks and libraries, in fire stations, and more ‘ to support services residents want and need.
Mayor Gray’s 2012 budget would increase DC’s income tax rate from 8.5 percent to 8.9 percent on income above $200,000 ‘ or $400 for a family making $300,000 ‘ to help preserve services in face of a large budget shortfall. That move matches the approach DC residents want their leaders to take: In a recent poll, a majority said they support increasing taxes to avoid making deep cuts to programs and services, and 85 percent specifically support Gray’s income tax proposal.
Despite this widespread support, several DC Council members, including Chairman Brown, say they want to undo the tax increase. Brown has indicated that he may have identified $21 million in other resources to do so, perhaps without making cuts to other services.
Yet whatever funds are found to undo an income tax increase could be used instead to restore some of the most serious cuts in the proposed budget. The budget before the Council would cut $190 million, with two-thirds falling on programs serving DC’s low- and moderate-income residents. The cuts also affect police, libraries, public works, and more.
The District can support more of what DC residents want if we keep the revenue increases. Here is what $21 million could buy:
- $21 million could fully restore cuts to DC’s homeless services. The FY 2012 budget would cut homeless services at a time when families with children already are being turned away from homeless shelters with no safe alternative.
- $21 million could fully restore cuts to housing programs. The budget would take away $18 million from the only local source of funding to build affordable housing and help tenants buy their buildings. DC’s locally funded housing programs helped create nearly 10,000 affordable units in the last decade, but that has ground to a near-halt in the recession due to falling resources.
- $21 million could fully restore cuts to cash assistance for residents with disabilities and families with children. Mayor Gray’s budget would cut off the only source of income for 1,000 DC residents with disabilities who cannot work and who have applied for federal disability benefits. It also would reduce assistance to nearly 7,000 families with children to just $257 a month.
Preserving revenues in the proposed budget also would make it easier to address other gaps, such as the desire by some policymakers to increase the police force, keeping DC’s main library branch open on Sunday, and maintaining the staff that keeps DC’s streets clean.
Starting today, the full DC Council will meet to hash out the final details of the budget for 2012. It is very likely that they will identify some resources to make changes to parts of the budget that concern them the most. The question is: will they use those resources to undo a tax cut that has very little opposition or to restore cuts to services that residents say they want?
You can watch the council’s budget discussions live at www.dccouncil.us or at www.octt.dc.gov, or in room 412 of the John A. Wilson Building.
