In her testimony before the council in July 2020, Alyssa Noth, former policy analyst at DCFPI, & current director for intergovernmental affairs at DCPS, said expanding access to the GSA is a “small step small step toward a more equitable public school system.”
Wiith a minimum wage of $15.20 an hour, many Black DC residents can’t afford housing, as rent rates increase faster than working-class incomes, according to DCFPI.
Labor Day as a federal holiday was itself an achievement won by labor activists and a reminder that many of our rights and protections on the job are hard-won. This year, DC took important steps towards supporting workers.
Tazra Mitchell, policy director at the DCFPI, pointed to the changes made to the EITC with this amendment as a significant achievement. “I don’t believe any other state in the nation has a tax credit that’s worth 100% of the federal EITC.”
Tazra Mitchell, the policy director at the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, said “this year’s budget is one of the most important in D.C. history.”
The DC Council passed a final vote on the city’s 2022 budget Tuesday, but not without some last-minute debate and changes — notably, an amendment that would significantly boost monthly tax credits for low-income families in the coming years.
Erica Williams, ED of DCFPI, said the two groups have a lot of work to do to address deep inequalities in the city. Williams said the budget amendment will also provide housing vouchers & raise the local EITC, a boost she says will benefit Black women.
All this has led advocates for excluded worker support like DC Fiscal Policy Institute’s Senior Policy Analyst Doni Crawford to question the zero-sum approach that politicians take when it comes to this cause.
“With a modest tax increase on D.C.’s wealthiest residents, the council will raise over $170 million each year by fiscal year 2025 to help dismantle structural barriers to opportunity for Black and Brown communities and those living on low incomes,”
“These are people who work, who are earning wages but still struggle to get by. So it’s basically allowing them to keep more of the money that they’re earning,” says Tazra Mitchell, the policy director for the left-wing D.C. Fiscal Policy Institute.