I started my career as an apprentice sprinkler fitter, following my father into UA Local 709. Today I lead the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, representing nearly half a million workers who build and maintain our communities. Along the way, I’ve sat across the bargaining table more times than I can count. Wages matter, and so do health benefits. But the question our members ask about most is the one that will shape the rest of their lives: Will I be able to retire?
This November, Californians have an opportunity to protect the hard-earned retirement savings they have earned. For the workers I represent, retirement isn’t a windfall. It’s earned across jobsites from thousands of hours worked, over decades of early mornings, long shifts and hard physical work. We need to protect what we’ve saved — and that’s why I’m voting yes on Proposition 42.
Working people already pay income taxes on the money they earn. They shouldn’t pay taxes on that money twice simply because it’s sitting in a retirement or savings account. Proposition 42 prevents that double taxation by closing a loophole in California’s Constitution that allows new taxes to be imposed on retirement accounts, life savings and other personal property.
Revenue-generating ideas don’t stay on the shelf forever. In recent years, lawmakers have introduced five bills proposing taxes on retirement savings and other personal property. None passed. But every new proposal sends working families the message that the savings they’ve built are fair game. Our members feel that. They’re already stretched by the cost of housing, groceries, gas and child care. Eighty-five percent of Californians say the cost of living or taxes are making it harder to save for retirement. The last thing working families need is to worry that what they’ve managed to put away could be taxed again.
Some will argue that taxes on savings would hit only the wealthy. I’ve been around long enough to know new taxes rarely stay where they start. A plumber with a pension, an electrician with a 401(k) and a retired heavy equipment operator with a modest savings account are exactly the people who can least afford to find out the rules have changed.
A worker who has spent 30 years on job sites across the Sacramento region needs to be certain that the retirement they planned for will be there when they hang up their tools.
The labor movement has always fought for the basics: a fair wage, a safe jobsite and the chance to retire with dignity. Proposition 42 backs that last promise. It doesn’t take anything away from working families. It makes sure what they’ve earned stays theirs. You earned and saved it. Proposition 42 would protect it.
Chris Hannan is the president of the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.
The post Taxing wealth is a dangerous step toward taxing retirement savings appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
