THAT’S NOT FAIR!

It’s common to hear young children rage against their parents yelling “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”. Children often have a keen sense of fairness even if their understanding of the complexities of the world is not yet developed. As adults we do understand that this world is not always fair: it may make us want to call upon that young child within us and yell “THAT’S NOT FAIR!”. The Randolph DEI Coalition is committed to our mission of making our town (our world) a place that supports ‘fairness’ whenever/however we can.

This coming November there will be a ballot question that if passed will help bring a little more fairness to Massachusetts and by extension, Randolph: It’s called the Fair Share Amendment (FSA).

The FSA is a way to invest in our recovery and our future. We know that our economy works great for those at the top but so many of us still struggle financially. The FSA can help fix that. This would ensure that the wealthiest households pay their fair share. The amendment would be limited to those residents who earn (this does not include assets) over one million ($1,000,000) dollars a year. They would pay just four cents a dollar above the one million. But here’s the best part: the money raised would be distributed to every city and town and earmarked for public education pre K - public university (including better public school buildings, dept-free public college, access to vocational education and job training programs), public transportation (improving fast and reliable service) and public infrastructure (including safer roads, sidewalks, and bridges).

It is not yet possible to determine exact figures that towns and cities will receive but because this will be a constitutional amendment, it’s guaranteed that we will receive our fair share. But this can only work if we, as individuals, vote for it in November. And when we see the wealthiest among us paying the same or less taxes than we pay, we won’t have to yell “THAT’S NOT FAIR!” because it will be.

For more information about the Fair Share Amendment go to RaiseUpMA.org

Sandy Slavet, Co-Founder Randolph DEI Coalition