By Tom Chamberlain, Oregon AFL-CIO president
Every political candidate is talking about wage disparity: The gap between the top tier of wage earners and the rest of us. And it’s for good reason. According to a recent Esquire-NBC poll, 54 percent of Americans feel that their financial situation today isn’t what they thought it would be when they were younger. Three-quarters of Americans believe that wage equality will grow larger as elected leaders favor the agenda of the rich over the needs of working people. The poll points to the growing rage in America, specifically among those who earn less than $75,000 a year. And white women stand out as the angriest. They are angry about billionaires dumping over $500 million into the 2016 election process, a dysfunctional Congress, and increased violence in our schools.
Donald Trump’s slogan to “Make American Great Again” is a message that resonates with many people. That’s because Americans no longer believe in the American dream — that if you work hard and play by the rules, you and your family will get ahead and will have a better life than your parents. Americans no longer believe that America is the most powerful nation on earth. The majority of those polled stated that immigrants strengthen our country because of their hard work and talents, which runs counter to Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric.
Elected leaders and business associations talk a lot about wage disparity, but their message is about workers being better trained, and incentivizing businesses to create jobs. At the same time, too many leaders and business associations are supporting trade agreements that are wealth generators, not job creators. Just look at the data. Trade agreements are job destroyers. Too many oppose streamlining the organizing process for those workers who want to join a union, or follow the lead of the Koch brothers who are doing everything in their power to destroy our union movement. In the history of the world, a vast middle class has not been created and maintained without a strong union movement.
When I hear business groups talk about job creation incentives, my gut tightens into a knot. In 1973, corporations paid 18.5 percent of Oregon income tax. Today it’s 5 percent. That equates to $900 million a year.
Oregon law contains 49 income tax breaks for corporations. According to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, two-thirds of Oregon corporations pay just $10 a year income tax. Corporations only pay taxes on profits.
Washington state taxes corporations based on gross receipts, which is similar to a proposed ballot measure to increase the corporate minimum tax for businesses whose Oregon sales exceed $25 million each year. The measure would increase our revenue by $4-5 billion to fund schools, increase services to those in need, and increase revenue to address issues such as hunger and homelessness.
Corporations and Wall Street have been riding high for over half a century by gaining more power and influence. They care about job creation as long as middle-class taxpayers pay for them through state and local incentives. They are for the creation of family wage jobs as long as there isn’t a union and they can increase their ability to outsource jobs and increase their profit through free trade agreements.
It’s no wonder that Americans are mad as hell at corporations, Wall Street, and elected leaders. Perhaps 2016 is the year that Oregonians and Americans say “enough,” and for once vote for candidates that put working people first.
