It’ll never be enacted, but Congresswoman Gwen Moore’s Top 1% Accountability Act of 2016 highlights the hypocritical plans to drug test social safety net recipients while allowing the wealthy also to receive tax breaks without being tested for substance use.
Moore’s plan, unveiled last week, would require those taking at least $150,000 in tax deductions—generally, those earning more than $500,00 annually—to provide the IRS with a clean drug test. Moore developed her plan in response to Republicans’ efforts to require those receiving social safety net benefits to get a drug test. Just last month, Gov. Scott Walker approved new rules that allow employers to submit drug test results to the government. Those failing a drug test could be denied benefits if they apply for them in the future. Walker is also trying to sue the federal government to let the state require drug testing for those receiving unemployment and food benefits, even though similar programs in other states waste tons of taxpayer money and identify very few drug users.
Moore wrote that drug testing those with low incomes only serves to perpetuate the myth that those struggling economically are also drug users. “As I’ve said time and time again, the notion that those battling poverty are somehow more susceptible to substance abuse is as absurd as it is offensive,” Moore wrote in a statement. “If anything, our nation’s opioid crisis continues to underscore how substance addiction knows no social, racial or economic distinctions.”
We agree with Moore that if we’re going to require impoverished Wisconsinites to submit to drug tests, then we should require the 1% to take the same drug tests if they want their tax breaks. And while we’re at it, we could also require CEOs of companies getting tax breaks and other taxpayer-funded perks and incentives to submit to the same requirement. Isn’t that fair?
