Anne Gunderson
@AnneTheAnalyst
Senior Policy Analyst at DC Fiscal Policy Institute focused on all things early childhood education.
No matter the spin - research has shown over and over again that work requirements do not increase employment. They do not increase earnings. They just cut people off from the support they need to meet their basic needs. cbpp.org/blog/most-work…
🚨 Action Alert 🚨 Contact your DC Councilmembers now and urge them to reject ineffective corporate giveaways. The budget before the DC Council would invest scarce resources in disproven “trickle-down” tactics at the expense of DC residents. loom.ly/fsJN9jk
Elected officials often require a mountain of evidence to invest in programs for residents with low incomes, but they often enact business subsidies without solid research evidence they will benefit DC and renew them each year with little oversight. Read more in my blog below.
Mayor Bowser has said policies should be evaluated so we know what works. But her proposed budget invests in unproven & disproven economic development strategies, while cutting programs that research shows create healthy communities & a stronger economy. loom.ly/dwNY_sU
50 years of property tax limits have done nothing to reduce the cost of housing. Instead, they’ve favored wealthier homeowners and businesses over average Americans while reducing funds for local services. There are better solutions available. itep.org/effects-of-pro…
Parent Ambassador Charlee Vinson was interviewed by @wusa9 about what's at stake for children and families in DC's FY26 Budget. "If their goal is a true pro-growth budget...then they need to invest in the families and children that already live here." Take a moment to watch:
The DC Council made a couple of surprising moves Monday. wusa9.com/article/news/p…
📢"If you care about DC’s growth, real growth that benefits residents and businesses, you must invest in the programs like the childcare subsidy that make that possible." Parent Ambassador Charlee Vinson
@ChmnMendelson and most of the @councilofdc understand the value of #childcare subsidies and the Pay Equity Fund for #WashingtonDC's parents with young children and early educators themselves. The fact that they have found funding to start filling in the proposed gaps proves they…
COMING SOON: Ranked Choice Voting, as demanded by voters in I-83! @CMCHenderson and I introduced a budget amendment this a.m. which passed 8-4. Let’s give voters more agency and let’s honor their Nov 2024 vote for this.
That & the process more or less forces a piecemeal approach. The DC Council doesn’t have a finance/revenue committee & ignores advocates’ requests to hold revenue hearings—we’d be happy with just one to start! This dynamic forces tax policy at 1st budget vote year after year
"At some point government can't keep raising taxes," says Mendelson. "I'm not against raising taxes but I don't think a piecemeal approach is the way to go about it." (The non-piecemeal approach, the D.C. Tax Revision Commission, never produced a final report last year.)
It’s today. DC Council votes on the FY26 budget. This is the moment to demand full funding for child care subsidies and the Pay Equity Fund. These are not extras—they are essential for 6,800 families and for DC’s workforce. Speak out: docs.google.com/document/d/1BK…
HAPPENING NOW: DC workers, union members, and advocates are at the Wilson Building to call on DC Council to pass a budget that funds the District, not the wealthy.
UPDATE: @CMLewisGeorgeW4 is circulating an amendment that would pull the proposed repeal of Initiative 82 out of the budget that’s being voted on today. “Cutting the wages of tipped restaurant workers yet again poses a significant financial hardship,” her office says.
NEWS: Tomorrow D.C. Council will vote on repealing Initiative 82, which phases out the tipped minimum wage. Under proposal, base wage for tipped workers would be $8 (down from $10 now), but min. wage they’d earn would be $20. That’s more than $17.50 non-tipped workers make.
Progressive advocates are outside the Wilson Building this morning ahead of a first budget vote in the D.C. Council. They are pushing for tax increases to help spare cuts to programs like the Healthcare Alliance, which insures tens of thousands of residents, many immigrants.
Thank you @ChmnMendelson for taking harmful, unnecessary cuts to #paidleave out of the budget. And big thanks to @CMLewisGeorgeW4 for your leadership in pushing for removing these cuts and protecting workers!
Reminder: the plan to shift ppl off Medicaid into a Basic Health Plan depends on an Oct IT rollout (on track to achieve) & CMS approval. And, the benefits package is far less robust than Medicaid. Also, 10% of 25k losing Medicaid will be thrown into Marketplace with no $ support
This is how Clipse’s Tiny Desk ended:
Childcare in America is broken—expensive, scarce, & treated like a private problem rather than a public priority. @ehaspel & @Beckgale on how the US has failed to treat childcare as the essential infrastructure it is #fixingchildcare 👇theguardian.com/us-news/2025/j…
Learn more about capital gains in this DCFPI report dcfpi.org/all/taxing-cap…
DC’s tax code includes a bevy of advantages for wealth. The special tax treatment of capital gains income—which overwhelmingly flows to the top 1%—is part of why DC taxpayers in the top 20%, on average, have a lower effective tax rate than those in the middle of the income scale.