MONTPELIER, Vt. (WCAX) – A new report suggests Vermont can fund anti-poverty programs through a new tax on the state’s top earners.
The “State of Working Vermont” measures the social and economic well-being of Vermonters through employment, wage and housing data.
The Public Assets Institute, a left-leaning think tank, says pandemic-era investments in housing, child care, tax benefits and more improved the lives of Vermonters. They say Vermont has room to keep funding programs by taxing the state’s top earners.
“You hear a lot of talk about affordability and I think the question that needs to be asked is affordable for whom? A lot of what government does is actually make life more affordable, use that tax revenue to make life more affordable for people whether that’s housing, child care, whatever that might look like,” said Stephanie Yu of the Public Assets Institute.
This session, lawmakers have been considering a similar proposal to tax Vermonters who make more than half a million dollars a year. However some critics of the proposal have said that the state’s top earners could leave the state as a result of higher taxes.