Billionaire Tax
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo does not want to raise taxes on the rich while a group of legislators are hoping to close the state’s current $13 billion budget gap by raising revenue through new income tax rates on the ultra-rich, ending the state rebates on stock transfers and new taxes on high-end second homes and earners with $1 billion or more in assets.
“It would be unconscionable to place the burden of the current economic crisis on those who need help the most and can least afford it,” Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said during a virtual rally. “The rich have only gotten richer during the pandemic and should be asked to shoulder the load in this moment.”
Despite a significant drop in revenue collections, Cuomo said if local lawmakers were forced to increase taxes on millionaires, it would lead to “a bad place.”
“We used to be worried, a millionaire’s tax, people might leave. No no no. The burden shifted,” Cuomo said during a press conference this week. “We’re trying to get people to come back.”
The Democratic governor said, “I literally talk to people all day long who are now in their Hamptons house, who also lived here, or in their Hudson Valley house or in their Connecticut weekend house and I say, ‘You’ve got to come back,’” Cuomo said. “They’re not coming back right now. And you know what else they’re thinking, if I stay there, they pay a lower income tax because they don’t pay the New York City surcharge.”
New York City lost $336 billion in wealth in the 12 months ending June 30, according to a new report.
In New York, a proposal was introduced in May to tax unrealized billionaires’ unrealized capital gains.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio has indicated he is not opposed to raising taxes on the rich. “The rich keep getting richer even in the midst of this crisis,” de Blasio said during a press conference earlier this year. “So, I absolutely believe this is a fair time to talk about higher taxes on the wealthy.”
