Lori Lightfoot Quotes
I support progressive revenue sources that ease the burden on low-income and working-class individuals and families who are least able to shoulder the burden of regressive taxes and fees.
Lightfoot, Lori. "A Fair and Equitable Tax Plan." Lightfoot for Chicago, Campaign Policy Paper, Feb. 2019.
As a result of years of lobbying many vested interests were getting tax exemptions for their activities. Some of the richest corporations and people paid little or no taxes. This was like the old European monarchies where the dukes and nobles got tax exemptions from the king and the middle class and poor people paid a much larger percentage of their income and wealth than did the nobility. Fairness in taxation is very difficult in practice. See {633629}
The founder was Charles E. Coughlin, 1891-1979, a demagogic Catholic Priest who drafted the principles and invited others to join him. Hundreds of thousands did in this organization which began in idealism, and ended in scandal and hate mongering, so much so that Father Coughlin was ordered off the radio and out of politics by the Catholic Church. The National Union in 1936 had morphed into the Union Party which ran Presidential candidates in the 1936 election. At the time, a progressive income tax was an anathema to most people, however it became the norm in later years and although the idea did not originate with the Union, was one of the few lasting contributions of the Union.
This early cry for a graduated income tax interestingly coupled it with a reduction of corporate taxes. The former became a major plank of the Democratic Party, and the latter of the Republicans. In America, third minor parties, even though they do not win elections sometimes do influence the political scene by putting ideas on the national agenda.
Lori Elaine Lightfoot is an American attorney and politician who serves as the 56th and current mayor of Chicago. She has served since 2019. Before becoming mayor, Lightfoot worked in private legal practice as a partner at Mayer Brown and held various government positions in the City of Chicago. Most notably, she served as president of the Chicago Police Board and chair of the Chicago Police Accountability Task Force. Lightfoot ran for Mayor of Chicago in 2019, advancing to a runoff election against Toni Preckwinkle in the February 2019 election. She defeated Preckwinkle in the runoff on April 2, 2019. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
