NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS |
...GOP tax plan sparks backlash
From Page 1
what the [Republican] majority
is counting on. They are rushing
their tax giveaway to big corpo-
rations and the wealthy through
the Congress so quickly that no-
body catches on.”
The framework announced
Sept. 27 would lower the top
federal income tax rate from
39.6 percent to 35 percent on
the highest incomes. It would
slash the corporate tax rate from
35 percent to 20 percent.
It would also cut or eliminate
the taxes multinational corpora-
tions pay on their offshore prof-
its. American multinational cor-
porations hold an estimated $2.6
trillion offshore, and have resis-
ted bringing those profits home
because they would be taxed in
the U.S. at standard corporate
rates. Advocates of giving cor-
porations a “repatriation” tax
holiday argue that the money,
once returned, would be in-
vested and put Americans to
work. That’s pure fantasy: Al-
most all the companies with
overseas cash hoards already
have cash hoards in the United
States that they have chosen not
to invest.
The GOP also wants to end
the estate tax, which has been
around since 1916. Today’s es-
tate tax affects only a few thou-
Raymond Thomas
Cynthia Newton
Melissa Haggerty
“People know that vast personal in-
comes come not only through the effort
ability or luck of those who receive them,
but also because of the opportunities for
advantage which government itself con-
tributes. Therefore, the duty rests upon
the government to restrict such incomes
by very high taxes.”
— President Franklin D. Roosevelt,
June 19, 1935 address to Congress
“I look forward to working with Congress
to deliver historic tax cuts and reforms to
the American people. These tax cuts are
significant. There's never been tax cuts
like what we're talking about.”
— President Donald J. Trump,
Sept. 27, 2017, Indianapolis
sand wealthy estates each year:
Those over $5.49 million per
person. The tax is set at 40 per-
cent of estates above that thresh-
old.
Initially, at least, GOP leaders
were set to eliminate the federal
income tax deduction for state
and local taxes — a deduction
claimed by 44 million Ameri-
cans (though corporations
would get to keep that deduc-
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Chris Frost
Sydney Montanaro
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Chris Thomas
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tion). But so great was the back-
lash against it that Republican
leaders were reportedly back-
tracking as of press time, leav-
ing in place the deduction for
property taxes, but not for state
income taxes.
Republican leaders were set
to reveal specific details of their
tax plan on Nov. 1, the Day of
the Dead — which was after
this issue went to press.
November 3, 2017 | PAGE 3
Union-bashing Willamette Week
tramples the facts in airport story
By Don McIntosh
“Organized labor wants to push
out local restaurants and raise
prices at Portland International
Airport.” That’s word-for-word
what Willamette Week reported
in its Oct. 18 issue. Only prob-
lem? It’s not true, says the
union organizer involved, Ste-
fan Moritz, of UNITE HERE
Local 8.
UNITE HERE Local 8 rep-
resents about 150 restaurant
and retail workers at the Port-
land airport.
In the article, reporter Nigel
Jaquiss asserts that UNITE
HERE wants the airport to
abandon “street pricing,” and
award all its concession con-
tracts to one or two operators
— to make it simpler for work-
ers to unionize. But the article
provides no evidence that those
are the union’s positions, and
Moritz, who was quoted in the
article, says the union has
never said either of those
things.
“If you look at the work we
do in other airports, we work
with small businesses all over
the place,” Moritz told the La-
bor Press. “In San Francisco,
our union represents workers at
many small businesses that
have good union contracts,
while the small businesses are
highly successful.”
As for street pricing, the
popular-with-travelers rule that
restaurants can’t charge more
at the Portland airport than at
their other locations, Moritz
says the union hasn’t called for
an end to that either.
Oregon AFL-CIO President
Tom Chamberlain has criti-
cized street pricing, however.
Chamberlain, one of two labor
voices on the nine-member
Port of Portland Commission,
says the street pricing rule
pinches business profit margins
and makes it that much harder
for them to pay living wages
and benefits to their workers.
It’s not like the airport applies
“Local” restaurants at the
Portland Airport
Laurelwood Pub and Kenny and
Zuke’s (operated by SSP America, a
division of SSP Group, a British
multinational that operates branded
catering and retail at over 125 airports
worldwide)
Stumptown Coffee Roasters,
Peet's Coffee, and Potbelly
Sandwiches (operated by Texas-based
LaTrelle Inc., which also runs airport
Wendy’s and Subway franchises)
Henry’s Tavern (operated by
Restaurants Unlimited, which is owned
by Sun Capital Partners, a global private
equity outfit)
Rogue Ales Public House, Rose’s
Restaurant and Bakery, and
Tamale Boy (operated all-union by
HMS Host, a subsidiary of Italy-based
Autogrill S.p.A. – the world’s largest
airport concessions company)
“street pricing” to the rents it
charges concession contractors.
But details like that would
get in the way of Jaquiss’
union-bashing narrative, in
which the Pulitzer-prize win-
ning journalist relies on lazy
clichés about unions. “Unite
Here” is described as a “pow-
erful” “New York based”
union, “one of the nation’s
largest,” that has shown an
ability to “dictate terms” at
other West Coast airports.
Actually, UNITE HERE
(spelled all-caps because it’s an
acronym), is only America’s
20th largest union. Its Local 8
is based in Seattle. And far
from dictating terms, it took 10
years, a union-community
coalition, and a hard-fought
ballot measure to get $15 an
hour and worker protections at
SeaTac.
As for the local businesses
the article celebrates? Some
concession businesses at PDX
are locally owned. But most, as
detailed in the box above, are
in fact local “brand concepts”
that are operated by giant out-
of-town companies.