'Tax the 1%' Plan Adheres to Gov's Framework, Could Close Budget Gap & Fund Services

NEW YORK, NY (12/06/2011)(readMedia)-- The New Deal for New York -- a coalition of grassroots groups in Niagara Falls, Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Yonkers, and New York City -- today joined with allied organizations to support a progressive taxation plan that would create new tax brackets on the highest income earners and generate about $5 billion for the state. New Deal groups would proudly applaud Governor Cuomo, Assembly Speaker Silver, and Senate Majority Leader Skelos should this plan be put in place and revenues were used to fund public services that our communitieas across the state rely on. The "Tax the 1%" plan (PDF) was prepared by the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Governor Cuomo, with whom we have not always seen eye to eye on related issues, could realistically catapult to be one of the country's leading progressive elected officials on economic issues if the funds were used to protect New York's communities from additional cuts. Protecting and funding those services is vitally important, as those communities are still suffering from the deep cuts visited upon them over the past few years.

We are also heartened by the attention the Governor is bringing to the jobs crisis that has deeply impacted the communities in which we live and work for so long, and look forward to working with him if he does wish to pursue his New York Works and Youth Works programs.

The "Tax the 1%" proposal, available here, meets the framework laid out by Governor Andrew Cuomo in his December 5 op-ed, in which he stated that, "true [tax] reform for fairness has two factors: income brackets that fairly group income levels and progressive rates increasing with income." The Governor continued:

"Simply put, to me 'fairness' dictates that the more you make the more you pay and the higher your income the higher your rate. Also, you should be treated the same as people with similar incomes and differently from people who make significantly more, or significantly less, than you earn. I would create multiple brackets and rates increasing on a graduated basis throughout and indexed to inflation. I would add more income brackets for the middle income and add high end brackets. The actual rate span should be several points from low to high."

The New Deal supports tax fairness as laid out by Governor Cuomo and strongly urges just such a framework to be what is adopted in any sort of deal this week.

The New Deal for NY has been working over the last year to fight for progressive revenue raisers in New York, including the extension of the Millionaire's Tax, through direct action, coalition building, and more.

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