Yonkers’ state Senate Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said Wednesday that her colleagues will have to consider substantial new revenue measures and that those measures should concentrate on multimillionaires and billionaires.
The higher tax on New York’s wealthiest idea, is also being pushed by many Democrats in the state Assembly and Senate, labor unions and social services organizations.
They argue that New York will need to turn to higher taxes on millionaires and billionaires to stave off the possibility of spending cuts to schools, as well as local governments and nonprofits that provide services on behalf of the state.
The wealthiest 1% pay a smaller percentage of their income in taxes than do the poorest 20% of New Yorkers.
In the past, after September 11, 2001 the Republican leader of the Senate and the Democratic leader of the Assembly came together to propose higher taxes on the wealthy, overriding Governor George Pataki’s veto.
Similarly, after the financial collapse in 2008, the state was facing a huge budget gap. Governor David Paterson led the institution of higher taxes on millionaires, which became known as the first “millionaires tax” surcharge, which has been in place since.
Governor Andrew Cuomo, says he is opposed to efforts to raise taxes on high-income New Yorkers to help balance a deficit estimated at $30 billion over the next two years.
The governor and other chief executives in states across the nation are trying to build pressure on Congress and President Trump to provide $500 billion in unrestricted aid to states trying to rebuild their economies battered by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins says officials are working to convince Washington to get as large a bailout as possible.
But, she added, “There is no question that substantial revenue action from the state will be necessary,” she said in a written statement issued after Cuomo’s dismissal of revenue raising moves by Albany.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, also has said in a previous statement that additional federal funding is critical. But, he also added, that Assembly Democrats have “long favored asking those with more to pay their fair share.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration has been using $13 billion as the estimated deficit in the current fiscal year – which began April 1.
The deficit, which many saw coming before the current budget and its spending increases, was adopted in April as Covid-19 spread and the state’s economy crashed.
The budget agreement included no significant new revenue-raising measures, such as tax increases on higher earners, nor did it include as grave cuts as some feared.
Later on April 25th, the Cuomo administration announced $8.2 billion in cuts in aid to some localities including Yonkers, a category that covers education and much more.
The recent $2 trillion federal aid package provided $150 billion for state aid, which was distributed based on population.
At the time New York State got $7 billion out of the $150 billion.
Many political insiders in Albany asked,”. “How do you allocate state aid based on population when at the time we had between one-third and one-half of the COVID-19 cases?”
If New York had gotten one-third of the $150 billion, then the state would have gotten $50 billion.