COLUMBIA, Md. — The word “equality” carries special meaning in this planned community, nestled in the corridor between Baltimore and Washington. Subsidized apartment complexes and tidy townhouses coexist with single-family colonials and split- levels, and racial, socio-economic and religious diversity is embedded in the fabric. Columbia’s founding father created the town in 1967 with hopes that all types of workers could afford to live there, “from the company janitor to the company president.”It is through this lens that residents here are viewing the tax plan that Congress finalized this week. In Columbia, that could mean cuts to the well-regarded public schools and aid programs for the most vulnerable residents, changes that would further chip away at the egalitarian pillars on which the town was built.

Source: New York Times December 21, 2017 15:33 UTC