One of the key issues in the New York state budget is centered on proposed tax hikes in the one-house budgets.
Just one day before the state budget deadline and shortly after Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an extender to fund the government through April 7, Republican state Assembly Minority Leader Ed Ra voiced his disappointment in the Legislature’s failure to pass the state budget on time.
A key sticking point is taxing the rich.
“When you start to talk about New York City and you add in the local corporate tax, local personal income tax, it would be a disaster for New York City to raise those taxes and drive more businesses out,” said Ra. “We already have the worse business climate in the country. We’re consistently ranked that way, and more taxes isn’t going to fix that. Albany has a spending problem, not a revenue problem.”
Both Democratic one-house budgets give New York City the green light to increase its tax revenue allocating about $5 billion to the city, which is enough to close the current gaps and prevent cuts to vital services.
“When you look at New York City, people talk about the budget gap of around $5.4 billion that needs to be closed in the upcoming budget, and we have the answer right here,” said Democratic state Sen. Jabari Brisport, chair of the Committee on Children and Families. “Twelve billion [dollars] in personal income tax cuts for New York’s wealthiest from HR1 last year, tens of billions of dollars in Wall Street bonuses in the pockets of the rich this previous year. The money is right there of everything we need to take care of our New Yorkers.”
The state Senate’s proposal includes a 0.5% income tax surcharge on the state’s top two income brackets. Those currently stand at 10.3% for income between $5 million and $25 million, and 10.9% for income over $25 million.
The state Assembly’s proposal increases taxes on about 14,000 New Yorkers earning more than $5 million a year.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has repeatedly ruled out raising income taxes, but not a tax hike on corporations. Both one-house budges include them.
The conversation over how lawmakers will move forward is still up for discussion.
“We really haven’t started talking about the money part,” said Democratic state Senate Minority Leader Andrea Stewart Cousins. “Our one houses express our willingness to make the uber wealthy pay a little more. We’re willing to have corporations that are doing well pay a little bit more because we’re in a time where not only are there the threats from Washington, but we have needs that we need to meet.”
As billboards pressuring Gov. Hochul to tax the rich go up along highways in Albany, a new Siena University poll takes the temperature of how New Yorkers feel about taxing the rich.
“The answer is a clear ‘yes.’ Fifty-three percent of voters say ‘absolutely, yes, the Legislature and governor should pass that bill,’” said Steven Greenberg of the Siena Research Institute at Siena University. “Only 30% of New Yorkers say ‘no.’ Those are statewide numbers. If we look at just New York City alone, 64% of New York City voters say ‘yes.’”