Should New York raise taxes on the wealthy or not?
Capital Tonight invited two exceptionally smart advocates to speak on this issue, one who is for a tax hike and one who is not.
Charles Khan and Michael Kink, both of the liberal “Strong Economy for All Coalition,” recently published a column in The Buffalo News arguing that Gov. Kathy Hochul should raise taxes on the wealthy because millionaires and billionaires have made a lot of money since the election of President Donald Trump. They also received a tax break at the federal level.
“We just got new data from Americans for Tax Fairness,” Khan told Capital Tonight. “Since the election of Donald Trump, just New York’s billionaires have gotten $89 billion richer.”
Bill Hammond, a senior fellow for health policy at the conservative Empire Center, disagrees with Khan’s analysis, saying that much of the increased wealth accumulated by billionaires comes from the stock market, which he described as “paper money,” that could disappear if the stock market plunges.
In a blog post last week, Hammond urged New York’s policymakers not to raise taxes, and pointed to comments made to shareholders by JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon.
“[Dimon] also took the time to say, ‘Hey, listen New York, your taxes are hurting your economy’ and presented hard evidence from his own company,” said Hammond.
While JPMorgan Chase has built a new headquarters in New York City, the company has also been gradually shifting jobs to Texas where the tax burden is lower.
Both the state Senate and state Assembly one-house budgets include corporate and personal income tax hikes. Hochul’s executive budget does not, and she maintains that higher taxes could drive more residents out of the state.