PAGE 6 |
October 20, 2017 | NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
Union Manor
remodel is
complete
Who’s on our side?
Westmoreland Union Manor
celebrated its 50th anniver-
sary with a grand re-opening
Oct. 10 after a $45 million re-
model.
During the remodel, which
started in July 2015, residents
were relocated section by sec-
tion to other housing. The re-
model included a complete
replacement of the building’s
envelope, new water and
HVAC systems, improved
seismic resistance and fire
safety, plus 18 additional
American Disabilities Act
compliant units. All residents
were back in their homes as
of July 2017.
The AFL-CIO Housing
and Investment Trust (HIT)
provided $26 million of the
financing using union pen-
sion funds. Other key funding
partners were Oregon Hous-
ing and Community Services,
the U.S. Department of Hous-
ing and Urban Development,
PNC Real Estate, and Barings
Multifamily Capital. Walsh
Construction was the general
contractor under an all-union
project labor agreement.
The workers of this country are fed up with a job creation
strategy that gives incentives to corporate America in ex-
change for jobs. President Reagan’s tax plan gave massive
cuts to corporations and the wealthy in exchange for so-called
“job creation.” The plan didn’t work, and dug a deeper fed-
eral deficit hole to pay for the cuts.
While President Trump’s tax cut proposal is being touted
as tax cuts for working Americans, it is a continuation of
President Reagan’s failed tax plan, or “Trickle Down Eco-
nomics.” President Trump’s tax proposal will increase the
federal deficit by $7.8 trillion over a decade. Half of the $7.8
trillion cut will go directly to the top 1 percent. This plan will
result in budget hawks calling for cuts to Social Security,
Medicare, Medicaid, education and infrastructure to pay for
tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
The tax reform plan is not based in reality. Our current tax
system lets Wall Street, big corporations and the wealthy
avoid paying their fair share, thereby shifting more and more
of the responsibility to fund the federal budget onto the backs
of working people. Despite the highest corporate profits since
the 1950s, corporate tax revenue is at a record low today.
Multinational corporations avoid paying taxes by off-
shoring production or hiding their profits in offshore ac-
counts. It is estimated that the top 50 American corporations
collectively hold $1.5 trillion of profits in offshore accounts.
If corporate America wanted to create more jobs, they have
the resources. We need to understand that corporate America
is not interested in job creation: Their interest is in dividends
and profits. The less taxes they have to pay, the happier they
are.
The Trump tax plan has all kinds of goodies for wealthy
Americans and corporations:
■ The plan slashes tax rates for the wealthiest Americans from
By Tom Chamberlain Oregon AFL-CIO President
Trickle-down Trump
NOW FOR SOME PEACE AND QUIET: Residents of Westmoreland
Union Manor celebrate the end of a two-year building retrofit Oct. 10
with T-shirts proclaiming: “I survived the remodel.” Below, Ed Barnes –
a member of the nonprofit Union Labor Retirement Association (ULRA)
board since 1973 – looks over a photographic history of the building,
which was ULRA’s first project. Built in 1966, the seven-story, 300-unit
complex in Southeast Portland’s Sellwood-Moreland neighborhood is
home to 333 low-income seniors. ULRA was founded in 1962 by the
late Earl B. Kirkland and other leaders of Portland’s building trades
unions. Today it operates six affordable senior housing projects in Ore-
gon and Vancouver, Washington.
39.6 percent to 35.5 percent.
■ It eliminates the estate tax. Currently, the estate tax applies to
■
■
■
■
estates of $5.49 million or more. This is a $269 billion tax
break to the top 2 percent.
It eliminates a 3.8 percent tax on investment income that was
put in place by the Affordable Care Act and only applies to
people earning more than $200,000 per year ($250,000 for
married couples).
It eliminates the alternative minimum tax, a mechanism to
prevent the rich from dodging taxes by taking too many write
offs.
It lowers taxes on people who own their own business from
39.6 percent to 15 percent.
It reduces corporate taxes from 39 percent to 20 percent.
There are some tax cuts for the rest of America, about 95
percent of us. But let’s put things into perspective: According
to the Oregon Center for Public Policy, the richest 1 percent
of Oregonians would see a tax cut of $42,090. The next 4
percent see $2,050. The next 15 percent would pay $170
more a year. And the poorest 20 percent would receive a $80
cut in taxes a year.
We live in an era when our schools are underfunded, when
homelessness and housing affordability are epidemics, when
our infrastructure is falling apart, and when more and more
Americans are dependent on public assistance because they
can only find part-time jobs. Shouldn’t America be increasing
taxes on the wealthy, Wall Street and corporations instead of
implementing a tax cut that history has proven just doesn’t
work?
The Oregon AFL-CIO is a 138,000-member-strong federation of labor unions.