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Public Employee Press: PEP Talk

Fair share

Union backs state legislators on billionaire tax proposals

By MIKE LEE

With New York facing an unprecedented budget crisis due to the social and economic devastation wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, DC 37 joined other unions and community organizations in backing a proposal brought forth by more than 100 state legislators in a campaign for legislation to impose a tax on the state’s top wealthiest 1%.

The tax is to help alleviate the estimated 68.4% drop in tax revenue, due to the delay in filing state income tax returns, according to an April statement by New York State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli.

This coincides with a state deficit of $13 billion. The governor’s budget office stated that in several years, the budget hit could be as much as $60 billion.

Governor Cuomo is proposing drastic cuts to the social safety net, including reductions in aid to schools, food banks, and in public health care, stating there could be across-the-board cuts of 20% this year if the state does not receive financial help from the federal government.

In a statement issued on June 18, legislators said that instead of gutting services and the hardworking public workers who provide them, they called for raising taxes on New York’s rich or they would not approve any spending cuts.

In the statement, issued through the Fiscal Policy Institute, they called for higher tax rates for billionaires and a stock transfer tax.

“Ultra-millionaires and billionaires should not be the only constituency held harmless in this crisis. We are all in this together, and sacrifice must be shared,” according to the legislative coalition.

Statistics showed that during the height of the pandemic, New York’s 118 billionaires increased their net worth by 8.6%, an estimated $44.9 billion.

The union fully backs the proposal. “These proposed cuts are devastating. At the crosshairs, the same people who are praised as heroes to deliver services in this pandemic are the first ones to get victimized by these cuts,” said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. “It is long past time that these privileged few pay their fair share for the needs of the millions of New Yorkers who depend on these services.”

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