We think of progressive taxation, if we think of it at all, as a ten-dollar term for making the rich pay more of their fair share. But Thursday at Noon NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn Member David Yassky, advised by the Drum Major Institute, give it a newer twist: let lower income New Yorkers pay less . Is Ms. Quinn finally turning from the darkside of the Bloomberg Empire?

There are, as it turns out, almost 225,00 very low wage households in New York City in which workers are paying NYC income taxes even though they’re exempt from NY State and Federal tax (because they fall below the State and Federal, but not the NYC, tax minimum.)

Speaker Quinn will propose today to eliminate the income tax on NYC’s lowest income workers at the fairly modest cost to the City of $72 million. This will put, I am told, $321/year on average into the hands of families. That money will be spent immediately, creating a mini-stimulus, and easing the daily life of the most hard-pressed workers.

DMI explains:  read more »

Perhaps it's not true It's True! Drum Major Institute Director Andrea Batista Schlesinger has been hired by Mayor Bloomberg's Re-Election Campaign according to many reports. Liz B has the resignation letter and more here .

The Drum Major Institute , under Schlesinger has been an active and useful center of progressive thought. The Bloomberg administration has -- for the last eight years -- been a model of government for and by the rich against the rest of us.

Will Mr. Bloomberg change under the sway of a new adviser? Will Ms. Schlesinger become an apologist for Mr. Bloomberg's racist stop and frisk policing? Will she become a defender of race-based marijuana arrests? Will she defend housing for the rich? The fact the Ms Schlesinger was hired by the campaign is a clear statement that Mr. Bloomberg's campaign will run toward the left. Will he begin to govern from the left? Well his proposed budget shows no sign of it thus far. Perhaps some progressive adviser will suggest less regressive funding scenarios. See also Errol Lewis in Thursday's Daily News Want more? Review the issues from the point of view of DMI Board Member Tom Watson who supports Ms. Schlesinger's decision (Hat tip: Liz B) Stay tuned. Not a prank.

Ms. Schlesinger will go leave of absence the Drum Major Institute announces and be replaced on an interim basis by Mark Winston Griffith (also a very smart thinker -- in my view).  read more »

This past election season, Senator Hillary Clinton proved that a woman can run for president. She astonished thousands of people -- men and women -- who never believed that a woman could get so close to becoming Commander in Chief in their lifetimes.

Although Senator Clinton broke through the glass ceiling, women across the country are still struggling for equality. When you look at the numbers, the inequalities that exist between men and women are staggering. Women earn 80% of what their male counterparts earn right out of school, and in 2007, women were paid 77 cents for every dollar that men were paid. This wage gap costs the average female full-time employee between $700,000 and $2 million over the course of her career. And it's not just wages where women are falling behind -- the numbers on healthcare, education, poverty and reproductive freedom tell the same story.  read more »

The facts about sick employees at work are, well, sickening. Three in ten employees say they have contracted the flu virus from a co-worker and average lost productivity to businesses (per employee per year) when employees show up to work despite suffering from a respiratory infection is $133.84. Add that to the fact that the flu virus can stay alive on inanimate surfaces like a door handle or office desk for up to eight hours, and it's not surprising that Americans are getting sick from going to work.  read more »

This post was written by Corinne Ramey and cross-posted from the DMIblog.

No matter who you're voting for, you have to admit that Barack Obama has good taste in TV. He told the Las Vegas Sun that his favorite TV show was The Wire, the HBO police drama set in inner-city Baltimore that just completed its fifth and final season. Obama even told the Sun that his favorite character is Omar Little, a "charismatic, sawed-off shotgun toting, Honey Nut Cheerios-eating, gay stickup artist." Some have compared Omar to a modern day Robin Hood because he kills drug dealers and then gives the drugs to the users that have been exploited by the dealers. “That’s not an endorsement. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s a fascinating character,” Obama said.  read more »