Statement of PEF President Ken Brynien on Tax Rate Reform

ALBANY, NY (12/06/2011)(readMedia)-- We applaud the Governor's and Legislature's effort to address the growing income inequality in New York. The agreement announced today on tax reform is a step in the right direction but unfortunately falls short in obtaining the goal of a fair tax system.

The agreement would give millionaires the largest tax cut at more than 2 percent while the middle class would get the smallest tax cut at less than half a percent.

Tax rate reform should include tax cuts for the middle class, but we support higher tax rates for New York's wealthiest as proposed in the "Tax the 1 percent" plan developed by the Fiscal Policy Institute. This plan would raise the tax rate for the wealthiest New Yorkers and generate between $4.4 billion and $5.1 billion in annual revenue.

We are urging lawmakers to adopt a true tax reform plan that addresses the basic unfairness in our tax system while raising the necessary revenue needed to provide important services including health care, education, environmental, mental health and human services as well as necessary infrastructure improvements.

PEF is the state's second-largest state-employee union representing 55,000 professional, scientific and technical (PS&T) employees and other public and private employees.