January 9, 2013
a'I|c Fortiani» (©bseruer
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Page 7
O pinion
A Year of Triumphs and Tragedies
Our struggles for justice will continue
M arc M orial
O n N ov. 6, P re sid e n t O b a m a
A s w e com e to
w as re -e le cte d w ith o v e rw h elm ­
the close o f 2 0 1 2 ,1
in g su p p o rt fro m th e v ery c o m ­
w ant to take a m o ­
m u n itie s th at w e re ta rg e ts o f
m ent to reflect on
th e v o te r s u p p re ssio n c ro w d .
som e o f the m ajor
In fa c t, a c c o rd in g to a new Pew
trium phs and tra g ­
R e s e a rc h C e n te r a n a ly s is ,
edies o f the past
“ B la ck s v o te d at a h ig h e r ra te
year.
th is y e a r th a n o th e r m in o r ity
First, as m any o f you know , the g ro u p s an d fo r th e first tim e in
N ational U rban L eag u e’s num ber h isto ry m ay a lso h a v e v o te d at a
one priority this y ear w as our “O c­ h ig h e r ra te th an w h ite s .”
cupy the V o te” cam paign, devoted
O u r th a n k s to e v e ry o n e w ho
to d efeating the onslaught o f voter h e lp e d us O c cu p y the V o te in
ID law s and o th e r tactics designed 2012.
to suppress v o ter turnout am ong
W e a lso w an t to a g ain e x ten d
A frican A m ericans and other p ro ­ o u r g ra titu d e to al 1 th o se w ho cam e
g ressive voters.
to th e a id o f th e v ic tim s o f
B y all indications, o u r effort, in S u p e rs to rm S an d y w h ich stru c k
co n cert w ith m any others across N ew Y o rk an d th e M id -A tla n tic
the country, w as successful.
re g io n in O cto b er.
by
T h e re lie f e ffo rt is p ro g re ssin g ,
bu t as th e c o ld w e a th e r sets in,
m an y re m a in h o m e le ss an d jo b ­
le ss. W e w ere p le ase d th a t on
D ec. 28, th e U n ite d S ta te s S en ate
a p p r o v e d P r e s id e n t O b a m a ’ s
$ 6 0 .4 b illio n aid p ack ag e. U n fo r­
tu n a te ly , the H o u se o f R e p re se n ­
ta tiv e s d id n o t fo llo w th e ir lead.
Sandy w as a natural disaster that
claim ed m ore than 100 lives. But
2012 also saw one o f the m ost h or­
rific m an-m ade disasters in A m eri­
can history, the shooting deaths o f
20 elem entary school students and
six others at Sandy H ook E lem en­
tary in N ew tow n, Conn.
W hile the nation is still m ourning
this tragedy, the N ational Urban
L eague has called for a reinstate­
m ent o f the assault w eapons ban,
along w ith a com prehensive review
o f all gun law s to close loopholes
and strengthen enforcem ent.
W e m u st tak e a ctio n now to
en d th e sc o u rg e o f g u n v io le n c e
in A m erica.
Finally, in 2012 w e saw the p ass­
in g o f a n u m b e r o f n o ta b le A m e ri­
c an s. T h e y in clu d e:
W h itn e y H o u sto n - T h e in ­
c o m p a r a b le m u s ic a l p r o d ig y
w h o se a m az in g v o ice an d songs
b ro u g h t jo y to the w orld.
D ick C lark - T he lo n g -tim e host
o f “ A m e ric an B a n d sta n d ,” w ho
reig n ed as “ A m e ric a ’s o ld est te e n ­
a g e r” fo r 82 y ears an d g a v e firs t­
tim e n a tio n a l e x p o su re to m any
A frican -A m erican m u sical artists.
Neil A rm strong - The N A SA
astronaut w ho in 1969 becam e the
first hum an to w alk on the m oon.
Sally R ide - A nother N A SA a s­
tronaut, w ho in 1983 becam e the
first w om an to fly into space.
Russell M eans - The O glala Sioux
Indian w ho becam e the iconic leader
o f the A m erican Indian M ovem ent
and fo ught tirelessly for the rights
o f N ative A m ericans.
Sherm an H elm sley - The spirited
acto r w hose TV roles as G eorge
Jefferso n in “All in the F am ily ” and
“T he Jefferso n s” kept us laughing
through the 70s and 80s.
A na G race M arquez G reene and
her 19 classm ates at Sandy H ook
Elem entary School.
W e pray that 2013 w ill be a p ros­
perous and peaceful one fo r you
and y o u r fam ily. W e pledge to co n ­
tin u e sta n d in g w ith y o u in the
struggle for econom ic, political and
social ju stic e for all.
H appy N ew Year!
Marc Morial is president and
chief executive officer for the Na­
tional Urban League.
No Celebration for a Dropped Ball
Tax deal was a loser for majority of Americans
S cott K linger
M illions o f A m eri­
cans w atched the ball
drop on N ew Y e ar’s
Eve. T he glitzy one in
T im es Square sy m ­
bolized jo y and hope
for the N ew Year. Just
a few hundred m iles to the south,
C ongress dropped another ball —
one that no do u b t sent cham pag n e
glasses clinking am ong the richest
1 p e rc e n t. * B u t th e re s t o f us
sh o u ld n ’t celebrate.
W hile the W hite H ouse and m uch
o f the m edia spun the h urried late-
night m ove as a victory for the m iddle
class, it w as a w in paid fo r w ith
hundreds o f billions o f dollars in
new tax cuts for A m e ric a ’s w ealth i­
est fam ilies.
A t m idnight on Dec. 31, all o f the
B ush era tax cuts expired. So w hen
the S enate voted a couple o f hours
after m idnight, and the H ouse voted
by
at alm ost at the sam e late hour on
Jan. 1, they technically voted on
new tax cuts fo r everybody. T he
bill that the Senate passed raises
$1 trillio n less th an P resid en t
B arack O b a m a ’s original budget
proposal. A nd m uch o f it flow ed
d ir e c tly in to th e p o c k e ts o f
A m erica’s richest 1 percent.
O bam a not only failed in his prom ­
ise to raise taxes on the top 2 percent
o f taxpayers, he c o u ld n ’t even raise
taxes on all o f the rich est 1 percent.
O nly those w ith individual in ­
com es above $400,000($450,000 for
co u p les) w ill face h ig h er tax rates.
T he threshold for the top 1 percent
starts at $369,691. T he tax cuts for
the richest A m ericans are p erm a­
nent, w hile the child tax credit, c o l­
lege tax credit, and earn ed incom e
tax credits that benefit A m ericans o f
m ore m odest m eans expire once
ag ain in five years.
P resident O b am a’s original b u d ­
jjJnrtianh (Observer
P ublishers :
E d ito r :
Established 1970
Mark Washington
M ich a el L eig h to n
C reative D irector :
P aul N e u feld t
O ffice M anager /C lassifieds :
A dvertising D irector :
get proposal w ould have increased
the annual tax bills o f the richest 1
percent by nearly $10,000; the bill
that C ongress ju s t enacted instead
cuts the incom e taxes o f the average
top 1 percent fam ily by $ 17,840, ac­
cording to C itizens for Tax Justice.
T he very rich got an even greater
belated C hristm as gift: the budget
deal raised the estate tax exem ption
to $ 10 million per couple. That level ’ s
so high that only the richest 0.3
percent w ill pay it — ju s t 3 o f every
1,000 estates or about 7,000 estates
each year.
W hen the clo ck struck m idnight
on Jan. 1, the estate tax rate was 55
percent. W hen C ongress was fin­
ished ju s t before the wee m orning
hours o f Jan. 2, it dropped to ju s t 40
percent.
T ak in g into acco u n t the new
health care tax on unearned incom e,
the w ealthiest 1 percent also saw
tax es on th e ir d iv id e n d s n early
USPS 959-680
halved from w hat w ould have be­
com e a 43 percent rate to 24 percent.
W ith this fiscal deal, C ongress
co n tin u es to h o n o r the perverse
A m erican tradition o f rew arding in­
com e from w ealth m ore than incom e
from work.
A nd lest corporations feel left
out o f the N ew Y e a r’s E ve party for
the rich — C ongress snuck 31 co r­
porate tax breaks into the bill, in ­
cluding tw o pernicious provisions
called the A ctive Financing E xcep­
tion and the C ontrolled Foreign
C orporation L ook-T hrough, w hich
helps com panies like G eneral E lec­
tric and A pple avoid billions o f do l­
lars in U.S. corporate incom e taxes.
W hile eight senators opposed
the deal, only o n e — D em ocrat Tom
H arkin o f Io w a — did so because he
felt it threatened A m erica’s m iddle
class.
“Every d o llar that w ealthy tax ­
payers do not pay under this deal,
we will eventually ask A m ericans o f
m odest m eans to forgo in Social
Security, M edicare, and M edicaid
ben efits,” H arkin explained. “It is
shortsighted to look at these issues
in isolation from one another, esp e­
cially w hen congressional R epubli­
cans have been crystal clear that
they intend to seek spending cuts
to program s like Social Security ju st
tw o m onths from now , using the
debt lim it as leverage.”
B e c a u se th e d e al the W h ite
H ouse brokered w ith C ongress does
little to reduce the debt, d eficit
haw ks w ill soon be back at it, seek ­
ing to cut m ore from Social Security,
M edicare, food stam ps, and other
program s that benefit m illions o f
families.
If that h appens, m iddle class and
low-incom e Am ericans will have less
m oney to spend, w hich w ill m ean
few er custom ers for M ain Street
businesses, and ultim ately few er
jo b s for all.
Scott Klinger is an Associate
Fellow o f the Institute for Policy
Studies.
47 47 NE Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd., Portland, OR 97211
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