Action Plan for the People: How to Build Economic Justice in Oregon
Realizing our human potential depends on having the resources to meet our material needs. Having enough income enables us to have a home, food, and the other essentials of a life with dignity.
In an earlier era, organized labor led the way in ensuring that jobs paid good wages and benefits, creating a broad middle class in the process. The system was far from perfect, especially because it failed to fully include many workers of color. Nevertheless, that earlier era showed that worker power is essential to an economy where everyone can live in dignity and has an opportunity to thrive.
Tax justice is central to economic justice. Our tax system is how, together, we fund schools, health care, transportation, and the many public services that foster quality of life. Oregon needs a progressive tax system, asking proportionately more of the rich than of those with lower incomes; an adequate tax system, raising sufficient revenue to meet the needs and aspirations of Oregonians; and an equitable tax system, helping to reduce economic disparities that are the product of our nation’s history of racial and gender exclusion and oppression.
