During Academic Senate meeting March 12, the faculty senators debated creating a resolution to support Obama’s Millionaire Tax initiative over Gov. Jerry Brown’s sales tax initiative.

While senate has the freedom to pass any resolution supporting or not supporting any issue regarding the operations of City College or the Community College District as a whole, the debate concerned whether or not senate should be taking sides in such a divisive political issue.

The upper administrators of the district, most notably Chancellor Constance Carroll, have yet to voice public opinion on this subject.  A senate resolution might force her to take a stance against Brown’s tax proposal which is an increase in current sales tax.

According to supporters of Millionaire’s Tax, the district would receive 96 new or rehired faculty members if the initiative passed.  Also, an increase in sales tax, as proposed by Brown, is seen by opponents to be a tax directly on middle and lower class income brackets which a majority of students and faculty members fall into.

Millionaire’s Tax has been so widely supported by voters and political action groups, like Moveon.org, that Brown conceded with Millionaire’s Tax supporters.

Brown told the San Francisco Chronicle on March 14, that he had struck a deal with Millionaire’s Tax supporters to include part of his sales tax proposal into the Millionaire’s Tax initiative.

This gives credence to the theory that Millionaire’s Tax is such a widely acceptable cure for economic problems by the voting public that most likely it will pass.

The next senate meeting will be held on March 26, in D-121A, a conference room next door to the faculty lunch room, at 2:30 p.m.  At this meeting the senate is expected to make a final decision on a tax resolution.