By Ronda Watson Barber, Publisher | OhioMBE
Sixty-three years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Black taxpayers are still asking a basic question: If we’re paying into the system, why aren’t we equitably participating in the economic opportunities our tax dollars create?
Sixty-three years ago, hundreds of thousands of people gathered for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
I wasn’t even born yet.
And 63 years later, we’re still talking about jobs, economic opportunity and equitable participation.
I call it taxation without participation.
Black people pay taxes. Our tax dollars help fund Columbus City Schools, build and repair schools, maintain facilities and pay contractors.
But when those dollars are spent, how much comes back to Black businesses, Black workers and Black communities?
Look at Buildings and Grounds. Look at Capital Improvements. Look at the employees. Do they reflect the demographics of the district?
Look at the companies getting the contracts and the people doing the work. Where are those companies located? Where do their employees live?
Do they live and pay taxes in the Columbus City Schools district?
When Columbus tax dollars pay companies and workers from suburban and rural communities, those dollars create wealth somewhere else.
A Black grandmother in Columbus can pay taxes that help finance a Columbus school project while a company outside Columbus gets the contract, pays its workers and takes those dollars back to another community.
Her taxes participated. Her community didn’t.
That’s taxation without participation.
And we’re getting squeezed on both ends.
Columbus City Council has approved massive tax abatements and economic-development incentives for corporations and developers. When those incentives reduce revenue that otherwise could support public institutions like our schools, taxpayers deserve to know what they’re getting in return.
Where are the requirements for jobs?
Where are the Black business contracting opportunities?
Where is the investment in our neighborhoods and our children?
Don’t give corporations tax incentives and then tell taxpayers there isn’t enough money for our schools.
And don’t take the money that does reach our schools and spend it in ways that fail to create equitable opportunities for the Black taxpayers helping finance the system.
Which brings me to an uncomfortable question:
Would this be acceptable if Columbus City Schools were predominantly white?
Would suburban parents quietly watch their tax dollars create jobs and business opportunities somewhere else?
I doubt it.
On this anniversary, we also need to remember the full name of that historic gathering: the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
Jobs were part of the demand.
The marchers understood something we sometimes conveniently leave out of our celebrations of Dr. King: Civil rights without economic opportunity will never produce equality.
Sixty-three years later, we have Black elected officials, Black administrators, supplier-diversity programs, equity statements, disparity studies and participation goals.
But I want to see the receipts.
Show us what corporations gave back.
Show us the CCS contracts.
Show us who got the money.
Show us where those companies are located.
Show us how much went to Black-owned businesses.
Show us who got the jobs.
Follow the money.
Because Black people shouldn’t simply finance economic opportunity for everybody else.
Our businesses deserve contracts. Our workers deserve jobs. Our children deserve quality schools. And our tax dollars should create economic opportunity in our communities, too.
Sixty-three years after the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, we’re still fighting for both.
Taxation without participation.
Just my thoughts.
About the Author: Ronda Watson Barber is the publisher of OhioMBE, Ohio’s largest Black-owned business newspaper, and a longtime advocate for Black businesses, supplier diversity and equitable public contracting.
Just My Thoughts represents the commentary and opinions of OhioMBE Publisher Ronda Watson Barber.
OhioMBE.com | Cash • Contracts • Connections
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