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YES
Mike DiNicola
Malden resident; chair of Our Revolution Malden
So many problems that could be prevented by our social safety net go ignored by those who have never found themselves in need. With COVID-19, virtually nobody is safe from the threats of inadequate education, losing a home, or falling victim to a flawed health care system. We have popular solutions to these problems, but those who face them are not traditionally represented in government.
Many are still uninsured in Massachusetts and nationwide, despite passage of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicare for All, everyone would be covered. More people would seek preventative care rather than waiting for an emergency. If we’d had such a system when COVID-19 struck, more hospital beds might have been available. A single payer system would also offer additional benefits such as saving small business owners from having to provide insurance to employees.
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We have the means to house every homeless person in this country, but we are nowhere near meeting that basic need. The spread of COVID-19 in some homeless shelters highlights one consequence of that failure. Meanwhile, the pandemic also reminds us of the many who have housing but are one missed paycheck from losing it. The state enacted a moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, but once that ends too many will be again facing homelessness – unless we employ such tools as rent control, and expanding affordable housing.
Any parent unaware of the state of education funding is becoming an expert since COVID-19. Teachers, already underpaid, were suddenly thrust into remote learning with no preparation and inadequate resources. Schools face reopening with the challenge of meeting social distancing guidelines with already constrained budgets. The 2019 Student Opportunity Act promised new funds for schools but given the state’s own budget crunch, it is uncertain when that money might begin flowing.
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Now more than ever, we need progressive tax increases and funds diverted from bloated programs such as police departments to ensure we are meeting all the needs of our residents..
Unfortunately we’ve seen these progressive positions are far from likely to be adopted at the federal level. Therefore, it’s more important than ever that Massachusetts leads on these issues, something we have done many times before.
NO
Charles Chieppo
Senior Fellow at Pioneer Institute, a Boston-based think tank; Needham resident
As the COVID-19 pandemic tightened its grip on Massachusetts and the nation this spring, its impact made it necessary for the state and federal governments to temporarily expand the social safety net. Now, as Massachusetts emerges from lockdown, the public policy focus should shift from expanding the safety net toward policies that rebuild jobs and long-term prosperity.
In just a few weeks following the economic shutdown, unemployment rose from around 3 percent to levels not seen since the Great Depression. This unprecedented challenge required making immediate aid to individuals a key part of the relief package.
But going forward, the clear focus should be on using tax and regulatory policies, together with loans, to create incentives for getting the small businesses that historically employ the majority of the workforce back on their feet.
Tax and loan strategies can be tailored to help the hardest-hit industries, such as temporarily reducing or eliminating state and local consumption taxes. Government-sponsored loan programs have been a lifeline for small businesses facing lockdown-related cash-flow problems and will remain crucial as they reopen with numerous restrictions.
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Additionally, suspending employer payroll taxes on hourly workers would generate jobs and reduce small business costs. To encourage travel, policymakers should temporarily eliminate levies like room and rental car taxes. Sales tax holidays could also be enacted.
Federal reimbursements to states for lost revenue associated with these temporary changes would have more impact than expanding the safety net, and provide a much-needed boost to travel, retail, and restaurant employment.
Finally, policymakers should help businesses by limiting the permitting required for pandemic-related adaptations. For example, the ability to deliver food or other goods could be granted to businesses by right rather by permit.
In the days immediately after the shutdown unleashed its economic devastation, there was little time to worry about such concerns as the fact that many employees earned more from unemployment than they had at work. As we shift from emergency aid to recovery, we should limit expanding the safety net to programs whose recipients are the neediest and most likely to spend money to fuel the economy. Governments’ main focus should shift to policies that rebuild broad economic opportunity.
As told to Globe correspondent John Laidler. To suggest a topic, please contact laidler@globe.com.
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