Justice is a "hot" topic right now...it's in TV shows (grey's last season with Alex's project), on billboards and most definitely in churches and classrooms. Part of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics is to work towards social justice in everything we do, and this is something I learn about, both practically and big picture, on a daily basis.
I am working on a couple of big papers right now. One of them is about me (a genogram basically) and one is about connecting course (welfare) work to one of the "competencies" of the NASW. Social justice is the easiest to connect to any of my courses because SO many things are unjust...
Social Security isn't available until your 65 (or 62) but African Americans have a much shorter life span on average; therefore they receive less of what they paid earlier in life than say Asian women who have the longest life span.
Higher education (public at least) was intended to allow anyone to become as educated as they want; the poor were able to go to school just as the wealthy were. In current times, however, both the federal and state budgets have drastically affected the funding on ALL education programs, rising tuition costs and cutting the amount of available financial aid funds. Now, higher education is only for those with the means to get there, which often excludes the less wealthy and disproportionately excludes select ethnic groups.
Our tax codes are completely messed up, if you didn't already know that. We give tax cuts to billionaires and some cuts to those making less than 20K/year, but almost no cuts to the average earning American ($20-60K). This makes it incredibly difficult for many Americans in so many ways. Instead of taxing people proportionate to income, we tax (Read:PENALIZE) people for working a honest job making 30K a year instead of helping those families make ends meet. And considering the last point about education, how are these families supposed to get an education leading to a better job? And who is to say that education would even mater right now?
Basically the world is a mess. Politics are messy. And our country (and largely the world) is in such a devastating economic situation that we have no attention being given to these justice issues outside of grassroots movements.
How will you help?
I am working on a couple of big papers right now. One of them is about me (a genogram basically) and one is about connecting course (welfare) work to one of the "competencies" of the NASW. Social justice is the easiest to connect to any of my courses because SO many things are unjust...
Social Security isn't available until your 65 (or 62) but African Americans have a much shorter life span on average; therefore they receive less of what they paid earlier in life than say Asian women who have the longest life span.
Higher education (public at least) was intended to allow anyone to become as educated as they want; the poor were able to go to school just as the wealthy were. In current times, however, both the federal and state budgets have drastically affected the funding on ALL education programs, rising tuition costs and cutting the amount of available financial aid funds. Now, higher education is only for those with the means to get there, which often excludes the less wealthy and disproportionately excludes select ethnic groups.
Our tax codes are completely messed up, if you didn't already know that. We give tax cuts to billionaires and some cuts to those making less than 20K/year, but almost no cuts to the average earning American ($20-60K). This makes it incredibly difficult for many Americans in so many ways. Instead of taxing people proportionate to income, we tax (Read:PENALIZE) people for working a honest job making 30K a year instead of helping those families make ends meet. And considering the last point about education, how are these families supposed to get an education leading to a better job? And who is to say that education would even mater right now?
Basically the world is a mess. Politics are messy. And our country (and largely the world) is in such a devastating economic situation that we have no attention being given to these justice issues outside of grassroots movements.
How will you help?
My apologies in advance, but your comments about taxes and tax brackets are incorrect.
ReplyDeleteCurrently, the lowest-income families (those making under $34.5k per year) either pay 10 or 15% federal income tax. Many of these people are on welfare or other living-assistance programs, which dramatically reduces their tax rate to almost zero. Some people are even getting welfare without any job at all, which is a *negative* tax rate! You claim that working citizens aren't taxed according to their income? Here's how the federal income tax rates break down:
There are four more tax brackets beyond $34.5k/year:
$34.5 - $83.6k: 25%
$83.6 - $174.4k: 28%
$174.4k - $379.15k: 33%
$379.15k and up: 35%
50% of Americans make between $22k and $53k per year. This puts them either in the 15 or 25% tax brackets, which I think is reasonable. As people make more money, they are taxed more by the government.
I believe that every person should be taxed a fixed percent of their income. It is illegal to discriminate with respect to a person's race, gender, etc, etc, but some people believe it is "justice" to levy extra tax on those with higher incomes! How is this showing justice? How is this right?! Consider if every US citizen was taxed at a flat rate of 15%. Every person would be asked to give the same portion of their income to the government. This seems more just to me. Your thoughts?
I'm sorry, I should have included citations:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=american+earnings+annual
and
http://www.moneychimp.com/features/tax_brackets.htm
Hey John!
ReplyDeleteLet me further explain what I meant... (by the way, this is what I am learning about in a class, so I know only what is in my textbook and what the professor is teaching)
Income Taxing is progressive..meaning it changes based on income. If it were regressive like you're suggesting (15% flat), it would be like sales tax currently is. The problem with that is that for someone making 10 grand a year, 15% of that, 1500, is a HUGE part of their spending capacity GONE. So housing, food, etc...how do they pay for it? Well many pay for it through government assistance. And you're right about the tax negative-ness in some instances. Some families qualify for a special tax program (must make under 40k and largest benefit payout around 18k). Those families pay either no taxes, very little taxes, or get money back. I don't think we would need programs like this though if a. our welfare system was more just, b. if our codes and cut qualifications made more sense and c. if child care was more affordable allowing people to go to work.
ALSO, I was talking very generally about tax cut codes...not exactly taxing codes based on income. I do recognize that they are progressive. Cuts, however, are largely limited to the middle class and are largely available to those making below the poverty line and those making over 250K a year.
Lastly, we disagree when it comes to how much the wealthy should pay in taxes because of a point i made earlier about how much 15% is to someone making 10k or even 30k a year. To someone making 300k I understand that 45k is also a lot of money, but when we are talking about an income of 255 still, i'm no longer concerned with their abilities to feed themselves and their children.
Social justice is not just about everything being equal, consider the negative factors of "color blindness" or the people who say they see no race. Instead of that being positive you are in fact denying the historical implications and the CURRENT implications of race. Similarly, just because income tax rates would be equal, the IMPACT of those taxes would NOT be equal.
I appreciate your comment though. It's a hugely complex issue and I am only beginning to learn about how messy it truly is.