Democrats have a choice

Democrats are struggling to pass legislation on women’s reproductive freedom, voting rights, workers protections, minimum wage increases while state-level Republicans are challenging or rolling back decades of hard-won gains. Biden’s entire Build Back Better plan is being ripped to shreds in Congress as Democrats have their knives out for one another in a hostile intraparty negotiation. I was shocked to find out Democrats were not having this fight over anything in their platform but for a tax break.

While I understand the SALT tax deduction intention limiting the taxable income of individuals, the cap Trump put in was reasonable. Democrats should not die on this hill but they are making it clear they are willing to. 96% of the benefits would go to the top 20% of earners, these are not working-class voters that make up the party. Pursuing the SALT tax deductions also limits the revenue available to fund their projects. At 85 Billion annually it could more than pay for family leave (23 billion), free community college (11 billion), universal pre k (17 billion). It could even cover 10,000 in student loan relief as the cost of both is 350 billion. (The SALT tax deduction expires 2026 and 350 billion is the estimate from now till expiration.)

So why are Democrats pursuing it? This policy limits their ability to address income inequality by not only giving a tax break but defunding their package. It is because the party is flush with cash from donors. This is a long-term problem for the party. They keep siding with corporate interests over their voters and then wonder why more working-class voters are open to Republicans. While Democrats are still winning the majority of workers at or below the median income; Republicans are making inroads. Many Republican ran states are creating more low-paying jobs, slashing tax rates, while allowing a hot labor market to push up wages without government policy. They have created a set of policies more conducive for working-class voters while Democrats have not. While they intend to create cheap labor for business, Democrats have not shown they are different.

Democrats will not stand with labor to create better-paying jobs for American workers. Democrats fail to emphasize trade policy that is worker-focused. They continue to push trade focused on the elites ability to sell their goods. Democrats will not work to make a fairer tax system. Democrats can change these but have not or will not change them. Even though Democrats have co-opted the language of BLM, Occupy Wallstreet, The Women’s March they fail to deliver. The Democrats fail to distinguish their governance from Republicans. They are not giving workers anything while Republicans give them cultural warfare. A cultural war that because Democrats can not or will not pass policy to improve people’s, or even at the very least sell what they have leaves workers vulnerable to cultural appeals. This is a chance to change that. Democrats need to stay focused on changing the economic issues too many Americans are facing, stop negotiating with each other to water down policies to keep corporate donors and do what is necessary. Stop talking at working-class voters and start talking to them. Stop the legislative kayfabe and get something passed.