State lawmakers across the country are rolling out new legislation that effectively outlaws natural gas bans by cities and municipalities — even though such bans encourage the use of cost-effective and climate-friendly renewable energy in new building construction. While some state Republicans are presenting these anti-gas-ban bills under the guise of concern for energy choice, experts say their...
Turns out the superrich have been dodging taxes even more than anyone realized
A new study has found that the wealthiest 1% of Americans are dodging payment of taxes at a much higher rate than prior research had revealed. According to the Wall Street Journal, the study, conducted by a team of Internal Revenue Service and academic researchers and economists for a working paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found that the richest 1% of households fail...
Democratic lawmakers aren’t giving up on the fight to raise the minimum wage
Democratic lawmakers joined a call Friday with workers’ rights advocates to discuss new strategies to raise the federal minimum wage after recent roadblocks prevented its inclusion in President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package. According to Business Insider, Friday’s call between Democratic lawmakers and workers’ rights advocates to discuss a minimum wage...
The eviction crisis is here. COVID relief could help.
Provisions in the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package that President Joe Biden signed into law on March 11 could play a huge role in helping to address the ongoing eviction and homelessness crises caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The American Rescue Plan allocates more than $27 billion to help renters, including $21.55 billion in emergency rental assistance, $5 billion in emergency housing...
Experts say rideshare drivers could actually get worker protections — if Congress acted
Experts say there’s a growing need to restructure U.S. economic policy so workers in the gig economy, such as rideshare drivers who work for companies like Uber and Lyft, can receive worker protections and employee benefits — but this might only be possible through strong congressional action or executive order. This is especially important during the pandemic, when more workers rely on gig...
Experts say rushing to reopen businesses won’t magically fix the economy
A Labor Department report released Thursday found that unemployment claims soared in the past week, despite many states recently lifting restrictions on businesses reopening. Experts say it’s indicative that early economic opening alone, absent other health safety measures, will not fix a job market gutted by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the report, jobless claims were up to 770,000...
GOP senators complain about inmates getting relief checks after voting for it twice
Senate Republicans have been slamming Democrats for weeks about the fact that prison inmates are eligible to receive direct relief payments from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan, signed into law last week. Every Republican in the House and Senate voted against the bill. But in both the previous COVID relief packages passed last year by a Republican-controlled Senate and signed by...
Black and brown communities are getting slammed by a pandemic housing crisis
Recent analysis has found that Black and brown communities have been disproportionately affected during the coronavirus pandemic by an ongoing housing crisis, bearing the brunt of evictions, a mounting housing shortage, skyrocketing home prices, and record-high loan and mortgage rates. A recent report published by the Washington Post noted that house prices have soared by 14.3% since the...
How Biden’s plan to tax the rich actually benefits everyone
President Joe Biden’s plan to raise taxes on the wealthy and corporations, though receiving considerable pushback from Republican lawmakers, will actually benefit Americans as a whole by curbing economic inequity and offsetting the economic harm done by the COVID-19 pandemic, economists say. Various outlets reported this week that Biden is planning a new tax policy proposal that would...
States are trying to fix the minimum wage on their own. Experts say not so fast.
After a federal minimum wage hike was omitted from the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package signed into law Thursday by President Joe Biden, congressional negotiations on it have been tabled. In the meantime, individual states have renewed efforts to raise worker wages at a state level. But experts say it would be better to increase wages at a uniform, federal level. In Ohio, state Democrats...