Artists Against Proposition A!
We ARE the city! • We HEART the city! • We ART the city!
Get educated and join our campaign!
● Our city is under siege by wealthy citizens protecting their own income! Proposition A on the statewide November ballot is a threat to the 1% earnings tax in St. Louis and Kansas City, and would prevent any other city in the state from choosing to create an earnings tax to raise revenue. Eliminating this tax would also eliminate one-third of the income of these cities, resulting in major cuts to after school programs, senior programs, homeless services, firefighters, police, street maintenance, and more. PROP A CUTS TO THE BONE!
● Cities would have no choice but to balance the budget on the backs of residents! St. Louis and Kansas City cannot sustain these budget cuts. Making up the lost revenue would mean tripling the sales tax, or raising property taxes by 400%. Increasing the sales tax would put an unfair burden on families with modest incomes by sharply increasing the price of necessities. Raising property taxes would put an unfair burden on citizens living on fixed or moderate incomes. We need to keep our city affordable for ALL citizens. And keep in mind that for many politicians funding for the arts is first to go. PUBLIC funding for arts is what keeps our culture democratic. If we only depend on wealthy elites to fund the arts, vibrant and diverse voices are silenced.
● Only the rich will benefit from eliminating the earnings tax. The earnings tax does not penalize the middle class. The earnings tax for a person making $50,000 amounts to only $500 a year. Remember, eliminate the earnings tax and the money will have to come from somewhere else. The campaign against the tax is funded by the very wealthy, who have blanketed prime-time television with misleading ads promoting Proposition A. Don’t be fooled by this false populism.
What can you do?
● EDUCATE! Tell your friends, family, and neighbors to VOTE against Prop A on November 2! This is a statewide initiative, so ALL Missourians will vote on how St. Louis and Kansas City will balance their budgets.
● CREATE! We are looking for artists to submit images to use in our campaign. Clean, sharp, clear images. Time is short but we can make an impact! Reply artistsagainstpropa@gmail.com with your 300 dpi jpegs. The SOONER the BETTER! No later than October 18. (By sending, you are giving us the right to use this on materials and on the web. Please embed any credit you might want into the image.)
● GET INVOLVED! Want to be involved in our planning? We have all sorts of creative campaigns in the works and we need more people to make them work. Reply to this e-mail with your interest. And be sure to join our Facebook page: “Artists Against Proposition A”
For more detailed info on Proposition A, go to http://www.mobudget.org/category/13/articl/138Proposition_A_How_Missourians_Are_Harmed_by_Repeal_of_City_Earnings_Taxes
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