Middle class shut out of “trickle-down” club meeting

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana House Democratic Leader Scott Pelath from Michigan City has issued the following statement on Gov. Mike Pence’s Indiana Tax Competitiveness & Simplification Conference:

“This symposium is nothing more than a class club meeting of board room insiders, Wall Street apologists, and Nineteenth Century economic theorists.

“Notably absent from these proceedings is anyone representing working people or working families trying to get into the middle class. Looking at the roster of participants, I’m not sure anyone should be surprised that the middle class has been left out. It’s far better for them to lecture others than to get out into neighborhoods and communities to see the impact of their policies.

“God bless them, but governors do not typically convene public meetings in order to be told they’re all wrong. This one could have been a little less one-sided, though.

“Regular people have thoughts on taxes, too. Like the fact that Indiana workers and consumers keep paying a bigger share of the taxes, while the guys on the top floor are paying less.

“According to a recent Tax Foundation study, the state and local tax burden on the average Indiana income rose by 1.1 percentage points between 2001 and 2011.

“Over the same period, the state’s per capita income declined by over $1,000 per year. In short, workers and consumers paid a higher overall percentage of taxes on paltrier earnings. I suspect these facts will not be parsed at the governor’s soiree.

“Sadly, if you’re someone with a boss, if you get paid by the hour, or you don’t have your own letterhead, you probably didn’t get an invitation to weigh in on taxes.

“We cannot keep doubling down on the way we are doing things. We are lavishing resources on the top, getting people to work for less, and guessing that will lead to prosperity. We can do better…for everyone, not just the wealthy.”