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News Spotlight: Corporate Fair Share Tax @21:54
Some east bay lawmakers are proposing what they call a “corporate fair share” tax on certain corporations in California. They say the tax could boost funding for California’s underfunded schools and early childhood education programs. The measure takes aim at what proponents call a corporate windfall from president Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cut.
Corporate profits are at an all-time high. Per pupil funding for California schools is lagging behind 41 other states across the country. Those issues may not seem related… but some democratic lawmakers are taking aim at both issues with a bill called “corporate fair share for California and Californians”. They want to claw back some of the tax windfall that corporations have seen from the trump administration’s 2017 tax cut. Democratic senator Nancy Skinner of Berkeley is proposing a bill to shift some of those windfall profits to schools. She unveiled her senate bill 37 at a news conference in Oakland. She says it would affect about 2 tenths of a percent of the corporations in California. That means about 2 thousand of the largest corporations that do business in the state.
Since the 1970’s, the corporate tax share of California’s revenues has plummeted from more than 15 per cent of state general fund to, now, about 9 per cent. At the same time, the pay gap between top executives and workers has skyrocketed. C-e-o’s now average about 312 times the pay of the average worker… and in some cases, far more. California has the 4th highest wage gap between rich and poor. Skinner’s bill would hike taxes on the most profitable corporations… the top 2 tenths of a per cent… raising about 2 billion dollars for public schools and early childhood education. Additional tax increases would target corporations with the largest wage gap between executives and workers. The bill’s authors say that would raise another 2 and a half to 3 billion dollars. Democratic Assembly Member Buffy Wicks of Oakland is a co-author of s-b 37. She says the trump tax gave corporations a huge windfall, and c-e-o pay has risen dramatically, while investments in public education has declined… with California lagging in per pupil spending.
The measure is sure to trigger opposition from business and anti-tax groups. Jon Coupal of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers association says the bill would keep California at the top of a list of worst states in which to do business. But such opposition doesn’t phase supporters like wicks.
Since the measure would increase taxes, it needs to pass by 2-thirds majorities to become law. Wicks says supporters are ready to meet that threshold.
- Christopher Martinez, Capitol Correspondent