Washington’s first step to finally balancing our upside-down tax code is within reach!
Last weekend, the state Senate passed a tax on extraordinary profits from capital gains SB 5096. This critical legislation has been in the works for years and will provides hundreds of millions of dollars for childcare as well as help fund a Working Families Tax Credit (HB 1527).
Washington State’s tax code is structured so that those with the lowest-income pay up to 17% of their income in taxes, while those at the top pay less than 3%. Our legislators need to stand up for the majority of Washingtonians, not the voices of anti-taxers who fear any tax or the interests of the big businesses. Some of Washington’s richest people support revamping the state’s unfair tax structure. (Bill Gates, MYNorthwest; Ruth Lipscomb, Crosscut.)
Please, let your representatives in the state House know this is the time to finally pass this tax on extraordinary profits and balance our tax code!
- Step 1: Verify your legislative district by entering your street address
- Step 2: Enter your contact information
- Step 3: Enter your bill comment to the member
- Select: Support/Oppose/Neutral
You can stop there or write a comment such as the one below, or use your own words to be a voice for the vulnerable:
I urge you to vote yes on SB 5096 and support a tax on extraordinary profits from capital gains.
The wealthiest and most resourced people in our state pay six times less of their income in taxes than those with low and middle incomes. This capital gains tax is a critical step to balancing Washington’s upside-down tax code. As our state reckons with simultaneous crises, our only option is to keep money flowing in our communities by asking the wealthy to step up and support the community investments they have long benefitted from.
By ensuring the wealthy pay their share to support Washington, we will finally build an economy where all of us, no matter what we look like or where we live, can thrive. Please support a tax on extraordinary profits from capital gains and vote yes on SB 5096. Thank you!
Bills For Controlling Our Increasingly Plastic Planet
The U.S. produces the most plastic waste per capita of any country. An astounding 91% of plastic is never recycled. 350 million metric tons of plastic are produced globally each year, and 15 million metric tons wind up as plastic waste in the world’s oceans. Plastic contributes to climate change at every step of its production, from extraction to refinement, manufacture, transportation, disposal, and waste. Breaking free from plastic would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and strengthen climate resiliency.
Plastic disproportionately harms low-income communities, communities of color, and Indigenous communities by polluting their air, water and soil. Breaking free from plastic would uphold environmental justice by halting the development of new plastic facilities until necessary health and environmental regulations are updated and established.
Plastic is toxic, and includes 144 chemicals or chemical groups known to be hazardous to human health. Microplastic particles are so pervasive in our food and water that the average person ingests a credit card’s worth of plastic (5g) every week.
Below are two bills, one state and one national, that will be steps to bring under control the use of plastic in the United States and the toxic affects it has on us and the environment.
Washington State
Reducing Plastic Pollution & Improving Recycling Bill SB 5022, HB1118
This bill will address the management of certain materials to support recycling and reduce waste and litter by…
- Requiring that plastic beverage containers contain postconsumer recycled plastic, from a minimum of 15% by weight in 2023 to 50% by 2031.
- Banning expanded polystyrene (styrofoam) coolers, food service products, and packing peanuts as of June 1, 2023.
- Requiring that restaurants and food service businesses provide straws, utensils, condiment packages and beverage cup lids only on request or in self-serve bins.
United States Congress – Introduced to the House of Representatives 2.11.2021
The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 (BFFPPA)
H.R.5845 builds on successful statewide laws across the country and outlines practical plastic reduction strategies to realize a healthier, more sustainable, and more equitable future.
This legislation seeks to meaningfully address the plastic pollution crisis by:
- Shifting the financial burden of waste management and recycling off municipalities and taxpayers to where it belongs: the producers of this waste;
- Spurring massive investments in domestic recycling and composting infrastructure;
- Phasing out certain single-use plastic products that aren’t recyclable;
- Establishing minimum recycled content standards;
- Launching a national beverage container refund program to bolster recycling rates;
- Placing a temporary pause on new and expanding plastic facilities until the Environmental Protection Agency updates and creates vital environmental and health regulations to protect communities that experience “first and worst”. These are usually ‘Frontline’ communities of color and low-income that often lack basic infrastructure to support them and who will be increasingly vulnerable as our climate deteriorates and ‘Fenceline‘ communities which are immediately adjacent to a company and is directly affected by the noise, odors, chemical emissions, traffic, parking, and operations of the company.
- Prohibiting plastic waste from being exported to developing countries;
- And more proven policy solutions!
Find your representative and send the message that it’s time to support the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act of 2021 for the health and future of humans, animals, waterways, oceans, and the environment.