University of Wisconsin–Madison
Progressive Local Government
For the 21st Century

ProGov21 Policy Library

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Year
The U.S. Needs a Federal Wealth Tax
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
A federal wealth tax on the richest 0.1 percent of Americans is a viable approach for Congress to raise revenue and address rising inequality. This report outlines reasons why the United States needs a federal wealth tax to achieve these goals, as opposed to federal tax policies that...
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Advancing Community Wealth Building in the United States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2023
Level National
State(s) All States
Source The Democracy Collaborative
Policy Areas Community Development, Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
Failing economic development approaches, grounded in wealth inequality, lead to inequitable an unsustainable communities. Community Wealth Building (CWB) is an economic development model that transforms local economies using existing resources and policy levers. This guide is a...
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Recovery for All or Recovery for the Few?: Billionaire Wealth Soars in Connecticut
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level State
State(s) Connecticut
Source The Center for Popular Democracy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
While Connecticut’s working families are struggling with low wages, threats of eviction, food instability, lack of affordable health care, and high levels of unemployment amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, Connecticut’s wealthiest residents have amassed unprecedented wealth. In response...
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The Case for Progressive Revenue Policies
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2019
Level City or Town, State, National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights
The United States needs to address growing inequality and raise more revenue to fund critical public investment. One way to accomplish both goals is to enact legislation that raises taxes for high-income or high-wealth households. This infographic includes figures that demonstrate...
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Who Pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All 50 States
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
No two state tax systems are the same. This report provides detailed analyses of the features of every state tax code and assesses their fairness by measuring effective state and local tax rates paid by all income groups. The report concludes the following findings: the majority of...
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Focus on Wisconsin’s 1 Percent
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2015
Level State
State(s) Wisconsin
Source Economic Policy Institute
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Income inequality is expanding in Wisconsin, with the top 1% capturing a significant share of income growth. This mirrors broader economic trends and national changes in workers' rights, education, technology, and trade. Policymakers should invest in workforce education, support working...
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Austerity Versus Reinvestment: A Roadmap for a Broad-Based Connecticut Economic Recovery
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level State
State(s) Connecticut
Source In the Public Interest
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Community Development, Finance & Procurement
In the face of a public health emergency, an economic recession, and widening of social inequities, Connecticut has continues to reduce its public investment in services such as education, healthcare, housing, and transportation. Downsizing the public sector and failing to adequately...
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“The Forgotten Ones”—The Economic Well-Being of Early Educators During COVID-19
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2022
Level State
State(s) California
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This report provides a closer look at the well-being of California's early educators during the COVID-19 public health crisis, using data collected from the 2020 California Early Care and Education Workforce Study. Key findings show that educators' low wages leave them vulnerable...
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Child Tax Credit Enhancements Under the American Rescue Plan
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level National
State(s) All States
Source Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Children & Families
President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 relief package, the American Rescue Plan, includes a significant expansion of the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The proposal provides a $125 billion boost in funding for the program, which would double the size of the existing federal credit for households...
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Racial Wage Gaps in Early Education Employment
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Early educators are some of the lowest-paid workers in every state, which especially burdens African American and Hispanic women in this profession. This report analyzes the racial disparities that exist in early education employment. Findings show that African American early educators...
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2015 El Paso Ordinance 018370 Responding to Wage Theft Complaints
Type Ordinance or Resolution
Year 2015
Level City or Town
State(s) Texas
Source City of El Paso
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Finance & Procurement
This ordinance outlines the procedure for wage theft complaints in El Paso, TX. In particular, this ordinance creates a wage theft database, maintained by a Wage Theft Coordinator designated by the City Manager, to identify employers with a wage theft adjudication record, establish...
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St. Petersburg Ordinance 161-H Responding to Wage Theft Complaints
Type Ordinance or Resolution
Year 2015
Level City or Town
State(s) Florida
Source City of St. Petersburg
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Finance & Procurement
This ordinance details the procedure for wage theft complaints in St. Petersburg, FL, including the process of filing wage theft complaints, employer responses, conciliation, and hearings before a hearing officer. Moreover, this ordinance also outlines enforcement practices and retaliation...
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Action Plan for the People: How to Build Economic Justice in Oregon
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2023
Level State
State(s) Oregon
Source Oregon Center for Public Policy
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Communities of color continue to face obstacles to economic equality. Structural reforms are necessary not only to lift underresourced communities but to improve outcomes for all Americans struggling to make ends meet. This roadmap details campaigns in Oregon to raise the minimum...
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What Does Good Child Care Reform Look Like?
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level City or Town, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
Achieving high-quality early care and education for all children will require meaningful public policy interventions and investments. Effective childcare reform must tackle the current system's main problems: lack of resources for parents to stay home with very young children, lack...
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Basic Income in Cities: A Guide to City Experiments and Pilot Projects
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2018
Level City or Town
State(s) All States
Source National League of Cities
Policy Areas Economic Justice
Universal Basic Income (UBI) is a cash payment granted to all members of a community on a regular basis, regardless of employment status or income level. This guide provides recommendations to cities looking to pilot UBI policies. In particular, it provides tips on how cities should...
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We Need Major Reform that Prioritizes the Needs of our Child Care Workforce
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2021
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
This infographic argues that subsidized child care is ineffective until the early care and education system is reformed to ensure educators earn fair wages and benefits. Although subsidies have the potential to help low-income families afford child care, tax credits primarily benefit...
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Raise the wage: $15 minimum would benefit one million working Ohioans
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2024
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) Ohio
Source Policy Matters Ohio
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Economic Justice
Ohio's minimum wage does not reflect the economic value created by low-wage workers and is insufficient to cover the basic cost of living. This report outlines a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2026 and eliminate the sub-minimum wage for workers with disabilities. It...
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Gender Wage Gap Remains Wide in Year Two of the Pandemic: The 2021 Weekly Gender Wage Gap by Race, Ethnicity, and Occupation
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2022
Level Other
State(s) All States, Wyoming
Source Institute for Women’s Policy Research
Policy Areas Economic Justice
As the economy recovered from COVID-19 and many women and men returned to paid employment, deep gender and racial/ethnic gaps in both employment and pay persisted. This fact sheet models wage gaps across gender, race, and ethnicity in 2021, and outlines the role occupational segregation...
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Coming Together for Loudoun County: Collective Bargaining Strengthens Communities and Families
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2021
Level County
State(s) Virginia
Source The Commonwealth Institute
Policy Areas Economic Justice
A review of county employee salaries reveals that many public employees in Loudoun County cannot afford to live in the county they serve. This brief highlights how collective bargaining could bring their pay closer to private sector pay levels and also reduce racial and gender pay...
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Impact Investing and Employee Ownership
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level Other Boards and Agencies
State(s) All States
Source The Democracy Collaborative
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Democracy & Governance
This report explores the existing landscape of employee ownership opportunities for impact investors and highlights emerging models and strategies for inclusive investment in Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) and worker cooperatives. The benefits of employee ownership as a strategy...
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Teacher pay penalty still looms large: Trends in Teacher Wages and Compensation Through 2022
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2023
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Economic Policy Institute
Policy Areas Democracy & Governance, Economic Justice, Education
Cities that want to high-quality education systems need to address the immense disparity in compensation between teachers' and other workers with similar educational credentials. This study examines working conditions for educators and finds that teachers in 31 states earn 20 percent...
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Educator Expectations, Qualifications, and Earnings: Shared Challenges and Divergent Systems in ECE and K-12
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2017
Level State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education
While there is wide agreement across states and types of schools that K-12 teachers should obtain a bachelor's degree, no consensus exists within the early care and education workforce. This report analyzes how this lack of consensus has led to disparities in minimum qualifications...
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Declines in work supports for low-income parents
Type Fact Sheet or Infographic
Year 2015
Level City or Town
State(s) Massachusetts
Source MassBudget
Policy Areas Economic Justice, Civil Rights, Education
This factsheet highlights the decline in work support for low-income parents in Massachusetts over the past fifteen years. Funding cuts for early education, childcare, occupational education, and job training assistance have reduced access to workforce development and career opportunities....
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Race in the Heartland: Wisconsin’s Extreme Racial Disparity
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2019
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) Wisconsin
Source High Road Strategy Center
Policy Areas Civil Rights
Wisconsin ranks among the worst states in the nation for racial inequality. This report finds Wisconsin's racial disparities rank as one of the worst for infant mortality, bachelor's degrees, incarceration, and unemployment. It recommends training a diverse teaching workforce, raising...
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Early Childhood Workforce Index 2020
Type Policy Brief or Report
Year 2020
Level City or Town, County, State
State(s) All States
Source Center for the Study of Child Care Employment
Policy Areas Children & Families, Economic Justice, Education, Public Safety
Despite their important and complex work, early educators have faced low wages and unsafe working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. This report demonstrates that compensation within the early childhood education (ECE) workforce is uneven across states and among different classifications...
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