Income and Wealth Inequality: Pathways to Balancing the Scales
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Oct. 10, 2023) — America’s richest 1% of households averaged more than 84 times as much income as the bottom 20 percent in 2019, according to the Congressional Budget Office. To learn more about addressing this inequality, join a Community Conversation webinar on Thursday, October 19 from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. titled “Income and Wealth Inequality: Pathways to Balancing the Scales.”
Disparities in tax policy, challenges to families endeavoring to live on minimum wage jobs, and the increasing costs of living are some of the factors contributing to wealth inequality in our nation. Two approaches to addressing this inequality will be explained by panelists in the webinar:
- Guaranteed Income Program: monthly cash payments with no strings attached granted by some cities to low-income individuals for their basic needs.
- Patriotic Millionaires, a nonpartisan organization of Americans with high net worth who promote restructuring the American tax system. The webinar will describe the proposed federal Oligarch Act legislation endorsed by the organization. It would require wealthy people to pay a greater share of their income in taxes.
Panelists
- Elba Velasquez, Senior Program Director, Monument Impact
- Julia Quintero, Project Manager, Elevate Concord
- Emily McCloskey, Deputy Communications Director, Patriotic Millionaires
- Katherine Cagat, Research and Program Manager, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income
Anne Flynn, League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley, will moderate the discussion.
Register for the Zoom webinar here:
https://tinyurl.com/lwv-income-inequality
Organizers will send information on how to access the Zoom webinar to your email address 24 hours before the program. Audience questions will be collected and answered through the Zoom chat.
‘I have a dream’
The 1961 American Dream speech by Dr. Martin Luther King inspired this program. Dr. King said, “As long as there is poverty in this world, no man can be totally rich even if he has a billion dollars.”
The League of Women Voters of Diablo Valley, the League of Women Voters of West Contra Costa County, CCTV, and the Contra Costa County Library sponsor these Community Conversations.
The Library will provide closed captioning for this event and simultaneous Spanish translation. Organizers will record this program. They will upload it to the Library’s YouTube channel after the event.
Contact programs@lwvdv.org for more information.