Sirota - VOTE ALERT: GOP & 11 Dems vote down property tax relief

[Mass]

http://www.workingforchange.com/blog/index.cfm?mode=entry&entry=7C05CD41-E0C3-F090-A02CDFD985296FA9

VOTE ALERT: GOP & 11 Dems vote down property tax relief

Many states are struggling with high, regressive property taxes these days. In an effort to relieve that burden, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) authored legislation today on the floor of the Senate to provide $21.5 billion of property tax relief to states. Specifically, his bill would have restored the income tax rate on income above $1 million a year to pre-Bush-tax-cut levels, and put the $21.5 billion savings into grants to states for special education - the program that is directly connected to high property tax rates. Some background: Because the federal government mandates states provide the special education funding that the federal government refuses to provide, states are forced to primarily pay for this gap through higher property taxes. As Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) has noted years before he voted against Sanders legislation today, federal underfunding of special education leaves states "to cover the shortfall, placing a greater strain on local property taxes."



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Sadly, this is not the whole story. Eleven Senate Democrats provided the margin for Republicans in killing this property tax relief bill. You can see the full vote here. See the full state-by-state list of property tax relief this legislation would have provided here.

I am optimistic about the new Congress's willingness to better represent middle-class interests. But I must admit, when one-fifth of the Senate Democratic Caucus goes on record protecting tax cuts for the 1/3rd of 1 percent of Americans making over a million dollars a year and voting against property tax cuts for tens of millions of ordinary Americans, my optimism is, ahem, shaken.

Sad, but true. And some of the names, like Webb and Tester, are even more surprising.

Baucus (D-MT)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Salazar (D-CO)
Tester (D-MT)
Webb (D-VA)
Wyden (D-OR)

[Ino]

1. Both of your links go to the "full vote" page

or am I missing something?

[Mass]

2. Thanks - Corrected