Healthcare: What the Affordable Care Act Does and Doesn't Do
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Senator Sanders blasts the Pete Peterson "fiscal summit" and continuing efforts to destroy Social Security. |
No one likes to pay taxes. Even if you don't begrudge the government taking part of your paycheck, tax season is a stressful time, as many of us worry that we'll do a calculation wrong or get an audit letter from the IRS.
Taxes aren't a force of nature. Who gets taxed, and how much, is the result of laws that are the product of political struggles over the past century. There is plenty that is wrong with the U.S. tax system. To understand how we ended up where we are, it helps to look at the history of taxation in the U.S.
On February 18, UE's Political Action Director Chris Townsend appeared on the program "Inside Story" on the global TV news network Al Jazeera. The topic of the 25-minute program was "Attacking Unions." The host asked whether Mitt Romney was politically smart to be attacking unions in the campaign for the Michigan Republican presidential primary, but the focus quickly broadened to a discussion of unions and their role in American politics. The other two guests were Jason Johnson, a political science professor, and "Republican strategist" J.P. Freire.
The radical attacks on unions launched a year ago by Wisconsin's Republican Governor Scott Walker, at the direction of his corporate sponsors, have come at a high cost to working people. An important report issued by the Wisconsin AFL-CIO surveys the damage. It's titled "Losses to Working Families Under Governor Walker," and you can download the report here.
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UE International Rep. Greg Cross (in dark suit) introduces State Rep. Nate Willems, a former UE Local 896 member and strong UE ally in the legislature. (Photo by Karl Schilling) |
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Just days after delivering more than one million signatures to force a recall election on anti-worker Governor Scott Walker, the Wisconsin AFL-CIO has announced a statewide "Reclaim Wisconsin Tour." Click here for details.
by Chris Townsend, UE Political Action Director
Opponents of Wisconsin's union-busting governor Scott Walker today filed more than one million signatures on petitions calling for his recall. The legal requirement was for 540,000 valid signatures. The petitions delivered to the state Government Accountability Board in Madison weighed 1.5 tons.