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fabrisseI'm tired, y'all. The District of Columbia has a larger population than Wyoming. Wyoming has two Senators and a Representative in the House. They paid $3,828,379,000 in gross income tax for fiscal year 2012 (per Wikipedia. I know.)
The District paid $20,747,652,000.
We pay more in income tax than Montana, Wyoming, and both Dakotas combined ($19,013,215,000 for all four of them vs $20,747,652,000 for the District using those 2012 numbers).
But the death of Marion Barry and the Ferguson protests here (which have not erupted in violence) are getting dismissive comments about our being "like children" who "lack any capacity to govern." If we weren't a predominantly black city, I don't think anyone would use those phrases.
We have more Ph.D.s per capita than Cambridge, MA and three wards with a combined illiteracy rate of 27%. We're trying to combat the latter, but it's not easy. Generations of people who were never encouraged to read, who lost their children to AIDS (one in five DC residents is HIV positive -- per a study from 2011, it's probably less now because the population has increased) and are now trying to rear their grandchildren and, in some cases, great-grandchildren.
The thing is, some of the policies that would help our situation are opposed by a conservative Congress. We've lost our needle exchange programs which is part of our Medicaid (paid by our local taxes; this isn't federal money) because Congress has interfered. Ditto some of our abortion rights. If Congress doesn't like something we fund, they can stop it. They can't in Boston or Chicago or any other major city, but they can here. But we're "like children."
The District paid $20,747,652,000.
We pay more in income tax than Montana, Wyoming, and both Dakotas combined ($19,013,215,000 for all four of them vs $20,747,652,000 for the District using those 2012 numbers).
But the death of Marion Barry and the Ferguson protests here (which have not erupted in violence) are getting dismissive comments about our being "like children" who "lack any capacity to govern." If we weren't a predominantly black city, I don't think anyone would use those phrases.
We have more Ph.D.s per capita than Cambridge, MA and three wards with a combined illiteracy rate of 27%. We're trying to combat the latter, but it's not easy. Generations of people who were never encouraged to read, who lost their children to AIDS (one in five DC residents is HIV positive -- per a study from 2011, it's probably less now because the population has increased) and are now trying to rear their grandchildren and, in some cases, great-grandchildren.
The thing is, some of the policies that would help our situation are opposed by a conservative Congress. We've lost our needle exchange programs which is part of our Medicaid (paid by our local taxes; this isn't federal money) because Congress has interfered. Ditto some of our abortion rights. If Congress doesn't like something we fund, they can stop it. They can't in Boston or Chicago or any other major city, but they can here. But we're "like children."
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no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 05:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 06:46 pm (UTC)Amendment required:
A) Create the new state of Columbia
B) Allow DC to have voting Representation in the House (this should come with a side law letting us set our own budget without interference).
No Amendment required, but it would need a majority in Congress:
C) Treat us like a territory, including lifting of the requirement to pay income tax. (Based on the numbers above, that will never happen, even with a "friendly" Congress.)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 07:26 pm (UTC)It would make a funny story if DC declared itself the independent nation of Columbia of North America. Just think of the mayor sending a rental bill to the US Federal government for use of Columbian land for federal offices and monuments. :)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 07:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 07:50 pm (UTC)But, of course, then you'll have Virginia and Maryland try taking back the land that they gave up for the creation of the District...
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Date: 2014-11-26 08:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2014-11-26 08:05 pm (UTC)Do US Congress officials have to pay special taxes for working in the nation? Does it depend on their political stances?