Question 1:
Age: 36
Occupation: Attorney
Education: J.D. from Howard Law, B.A. in English (minor in political science), Howard University
Qualifications for office sought: I worked with the Wylie Street Homeowners Association (and my local PSA) to turn my street from an open air drug market that was a dumping ground for stolen cars and litter (including glass strewn sidewalks) to a livable community in less than five years. I also worked with H Street Main Street to contribute to the effort to turn H Street from a corridor filled with vacant buildings to the rapidly improving, now buzzing commercial corridor it is today. We worked to coordinate efforts to get new signage for existing businesses, publish and distribute a business directory to raise public awareness about businesses on the street early in its re-development, assisted in the design of the H Street Overlay which laid out the projected plan for re-development and revamped the H Street Festival, which is now attended by thousands with participation from numerous local businesses and vendors. Additionally, I sit on the board of directors of two nonprofits, One Common Unity (OCU) and Emergence Community Arts Collective, both of which focus on using the arts to revitalize communities (OCU, for example, will be bringing 30 at-risk youth to a wilderness retreat in West Virginia to teach them about peaceful resolution of conflict and artistic expression). I hope to bring my experience organizing citizens around a transformative vision to the Council.
Question 2: How to increase tax revenues? Raising revenue is crucial to eliminating the budget shortfall. Luckily, the Chief Financial Officer recently announced that $105 million in revenue the District did not expect to receive is projected to arrive in FY 2012. This will reduce our projected shortfall, but there are still some changes to the tax structure that are warranted, based on best practices in taxation, specifically progressive taxation (the use of brackets, where percentage of income paid by taxpayers increases gradually by income bracket). Currently in the District, our top tax bracket starts at income above $40,001, taxed at the 8.5% rate and we have three total tax brackets (wherein the first $10,000 in income is taxed at 4%, the next $10,001-$40,000 is taxed at 6% and income at $40,001 and above is taxed at 8.5%).
Tax brackets generally extend up the income scale in a locality, but the District has a sizable number of earners in the top bracket. We could create a new top tax rate of 9.5% for income above $250,000 and bring in $150 million in new revenue, according to the DC Fiscal Policy Institute. Working closely with the CFO, I also plan to propose a study on the possible effects of adjusting the tax structure across the board, to determine how much tax relief we can offer to middle income earners in the District.
I also would propose raising the vacant property tax rate on commercial and residential properties and placing a time limit on how long advertising a property for sale, rent or lease can exempt a property owner from paying the vacant property tax rate, to spur development of these properties (by speeding the sale of these properties at market rates by owners seeking to avoid continual payment of the higher vacant tax rate). The amount of revenue
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Questions 3: How to reduce spending? My primary policy preference is to find ways to creatively raise revenue while using Council oversight to fight waste (and to cut the budgets of agencies that consistently fail to cut waste and continually fail to provide proper service to District residents). As a caveat, I am aware that Congress might intercede to block any of the revenue proposals I suggest. Nonetheless, I believe we should explore radical proposals such as erecting tolls on the District side of all bridges through which the city can be accessed to charge residents who enter the city a nominal fee of $1/car and $2/larger vehicle (including SUVs, buses and trucks) to enter or exit the city via bridge. This could have the doubly advantageous effect of raising revenue and decreasing car usage (while increasing public transportation usage). We should also explore a congestion charge similar to what is being used in central London to discourage car usage (and reduce congestion). This revenue-generating method also has environmental benefits, such as reducing air pollution and reducing overall consumption of fossil fuels (not to mention creating an incentive to use public transportation, generating revenue there as well).
Despite the above, I do have ideas about how we can reduce spending in specific areas, to protect critical services from across the board cuts.
I would cut $10 million from the Office of the Chief Financial Officer through cutting salaries and requesting a joint CFO-OTR study on which areas of waste and duplication can be eliminated by having the CFO combine efforts with the OTR in certain areas (the study would determine to what extent the two office can share office space and to what extent certain middle management officials in each office can merge responsibilities to eliminate certain positions).
I would cut $10 million from WMATA by
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Questions 4: Will Council salary be your only employment income? Yes, my Council salary will be my only income during my term of office.
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