Prosperity
These past several years, we have seen the consequences of an economic system designed to reward and protect only those at the very top. It is inhumane, immoral, unstable, and prone to periodic collapse. Our economy has been at its strongest when it invested in the well-being of the many -- of all of us. This is especially true in a place like Wisconsin, which has historically had one of the smallest wealth gaps in the nation.
As your representative, Ben Manski will work to:
- Enact a comprehensive reform of our existing, unsustainable tax structure, which relies far too heavily on local property taxes to fund our schools and places too much of the burden on lower and middle-income working people.
- Create a state bank, in which to deposit our tax revenues, supplemented by funds from private depositors, so that Wisconsin can invest in community businesses and other productive ventures that benefit the people of Wisconsin, and keep the interest collected for the benefit of the people, rather than pay interest to enrich the same out-of-state financial institutions that have already preyed upon workers, homeowners and taxpayers.
- Strengthen respect for the First Amendment guarantees of freedom of association, assembly, and speech on the job. Without those rights, Wisconsinites do not control their labor power, are not free to contract, and are at the mercy of their employers.
- Raise additional revenue by ending Wisconsin’s participation in the socially and economically destructive war on drugs, and specifically by legalizing and taxing the sale of marijuana.
- Index the state minimum wage so that it is at least 40 percent above the poverty line -- a true living wage -- to compensate for the outdated federal poverty benchmark. It is also time to reconsider the idea of a guaranteed minimum income, once embraced by figures as diverse as Richard Nixon and America’s founding father, Thomas Paine.
- Expand BadgerCare into a true single-payer, improved-Medicare-for-all health care system. The lack of affordable health care means that workers without adequate insurance often forgo treatment – which in turn means more illnesses of longer duration, spread to more co-workers. This costs U.S. businesses the loss of 64.7 million avoidable sick days every year.
