CAPITOL Temporary income tax hike proposed BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
The Assembly’s Democratic majority on Wednesday proposed a temporary increase in income tax paid by New Yorkers making more than $1 million a year. The plan, expected to be in the Assembly’s budget proposal next week, would raise $1.5 billion annually, said Dan Weiller, spokesman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver. The measure would raise the income tax from 6.85 percent to 7.7 percent for New Yorkers making more than $1 million a year. The first year’s revenue would go to the general fund, which the state uses to fund most functions and from which it will need to fill a $4.8 billion deficit. The second year’s revenues would be split between the general fund and transportation needs. The last three years’ revenues would be used for transportation costs, split between the New York City mass transit and the state Department of Transportation, Weiller said. The proposal was supported in Wednesday’s closed-door conference of the Democratic majority. It evolved from a proposal by the influential Working Families Party, which is associated with the Democrats. The Working Families Party, however, had sought a graduated tax for New Yorkers making more than $250,000 a year. The revenue was estimated at $5.1 billion and half would have been devoted to property tax relief, which was expected to entice the Senate’s Republican majority to support the idea. “It’s not done,” said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. “There’s still time here. The Senate at first blush will denounce this idea. Then perhaps they will realize they, in fact, favor reducing property taxes and some may be reasonable enough to fi nd the proper way to do it.” Cantor sees his party’s plan as providing relief for millions of taxpayers, while asking a very few who can afford it to pay a little more. But the party also has a barely concealed hammer: Its support or opposition can mean the difference in political races, including Assembly Democratic primaries, close races for the Senate Republicans hoping to keep a slim majority, and a governor low in the polls. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” he said. “We’ve had a good alliance with the Assembly, but it’s fair to say our people are pretty disappointed.” Senate Republican leader Joseph Bruno and Democratic Gov. Eliot Spitzer, however, had objected to the Working Families Party version of the measure earlier on Wednesday. “We have no plans to raise the personal income tax. None,” said Bruno. “Not one penny in new taxes.” “When you increase taxes, you deprive people of income that they can spend as they please for education, mortgages, to buy homes, cars, refrigerators, TVs, restaurants,” Bruno said. “You affect the whole economy. I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Spitzer is calling for no increases in broad-based taxes in his $124 billion budget proposal. The budget is due by the April 1 start of the fi scal year. “I have said that we should not raise taxes,” Spitzer said. “That is something that we cannot afford to do. We are finally making New York state competitive. When I speak to executives and those who make the decisions about where to locate jobs, the idea that we would turn around at this moment and start raising taxes is the wrong way to go.”
Nice, huh? The government will go after the people who make 'good' money. Like they are being penalized for working hard and earning a more than generous wage. Folks, this is socializm at it's best! 'The distribution of wealth' to the masses! EVERYONE...no matter how much you make, should be appalled by this.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
The NYS government best be very careful about how much they tax the people making the money or they just may move out of NYS just like many of the wealthy tax payers did in California and NYS will end up with a huge budget deficit just like the one California has.
I ran into a guy last week who has a very lucrative business and he is moving out of NYS in the next couple of months. He said that he is sick and tired of paying NYS taxes.
And just look at NYS...it is populated mostly by government employees, welfare recipients and a huge democratic partisan bureaucracy.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Maybe they should get the monkey off the back of the State.....and follow the money trail from the 'legal gambling'......this prostitute thing is just some smoke....the governor should just walk away and give the rest of the rope to the other leaders: Bruno, Silver, Clinton and the rest of them......THERE IS NOT TEMPORARY TAX......YOU FREAKIN' DORKS......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
CAPITOL Assembly budget plan raises tax on rich Democrats at odds with governor, GOP BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Bob Conner at 462-2499 or bconner@dailygazette.net.
Raising income taxes on the rich is a key element of the one-house budget the state Assembly is expected to pass this week, putting its Democratic members at odds with not only Republicans but also with the Democratic administration of Gov. Eliot Spitzer. And not only would Assembly Democrats break with Spitzer over raising taxes, they also would use the revenue to derail some of the governor’s revenue-raising measures, including his plan to privatize operations of the Schenectadybased Lottery Division. Assemblyman Bob Reilly, DColonie, who has on occasion taken a more conservative position than many of his Democratic colleagues, said he is on board with this year’s Assembly budget. Under former Republican Gov. George Pataki, Reilly said, “The wealthy paid fewer and fewer taxes.” Better to tax them, he said, than impose the fees Spitzer has proposed, or accept his budget cuts on BOCES and the Office of Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities. New York’s top income tax rate was more than 15 percent in the mid 1970s, but has been cut under the leadership of both parties over the past 30 years. At a conference last week at the New York State United Teachers union headquarters, two progressive groups, the Fiscal Policy Institute and New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, made a case for permanent increases in income taxes on the wealthy. The current income tax structure, they said, has a top rate kicking in at far too low a level — on single people earning more than $20,000 per year. And with a recession looming, the state will not be able to pay for vital services unless it increases revenue. While New York’s political leaders of both parties have argued for three decades that their income tax cuts increase the state’s ability to compete in the national and global economy, the progressive groups disputed that, saying the tax burden has just shifted onto property taxes and the middle class. The Assembly’s proposed tax hike is temporary — for five years — and applies to people making $1 million or more per year, raising their state income tax rate from 6.85 percent to 7.7 percent. It would raise an estimated $1.5 billion per year. The plan was opposed by Spitzer, who when asked about it last week said: “We are finally making New York state competitive. When I speak to executives and those who make the decisions about where to locate jobs, the idea that we would turn around at this moment and start raising taxes is the wrong way to go.” Opposition to the Assembly plan also came from the state Business Council, and from Republican leaders. Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco, R-Schenectady, said the tax hike would be “another message to the outside world, don’t come here.” Successful people create jobs, he said, and New York needs more of them, and shouldn’t impose more taxes to drive them away. Ron Deutsch of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness noted that in 2003 the state passed a temporary, threeyear income tax surcharge similar to what the Assembly is now proposing. It was passed over Pataki’s veto, and Deutsch said the former governor’s prediction of disaster did not come true, since the tax increase did not prevent economic growth. Asked why Bruno supported that increase but opposes the Assembly’s current proposal, Scott Reif, a spokesman for the Senate majority, said the times were different. In 2003, he said, the state was still grappling with the steep fall in revenues following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
If this state keeps raising the taxes on the rich [anyone with a job] businesses and wealthy individuals will be leaving this state for more tax friendly states who will welcome them with open arms.
CAPITOL Lobbyists push for higher taxes on rich, cigarettes Coalition insists increase will help balance budget BY VALERIE BAUMAN The Associated Press
Lobbyists are making a last-minute push for higher taxes on millionaires and smokers as the budget deadline approaches in less than a week. With a $4.6 billion budget defi cit looming, two lobbying campaigns claim to have partial solutions to the state’s financial burdens as lawmakers push to meet the Tuesday deadline for a new budget. New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a coalition including the state’s large public employee unions, is paying more than $100,000 for radio advertisements that argue for a tax increase for people with incomes of $1 million or more because “the wealthiest New Yorkers just aren’t paying their fair share.” The ad says the only alternative would be cutting funding for hospitals, schools and colleges. “Taxing millionaires or cutting schools and health care — that’s an easy choice,” the ad says. The heavy-handed tactic is common this time of year as lawmakers are under close scrutiny for how they craft the roughly $124 billion budget and whether they will get it done on time. Politicians and lobbyists like to complain about budget cuts, but they are referring to cuts in budget growth, rather than spending less than last year. Frank Mauro, of the Fiscal Policy Institute, one of the groups in the coalition supporting the tax increase, said New York has to fi gure out what is the least harmful way to balance the budget in a recession. But opponents of the tax increase say the radio ads go too far. “It crosses the boundary into the ridiculous,” said E.J. McMahon, of the Empire Center for New York State Policy. “It creates this specter of budget cuts and service cuts that just isn’t there. The Empire Center, part of the fiscally conservative Manhattan Institute, has issued a response to the coalition’s ad, rejecting its arguments for increasing taxes. McMahon advocates minimizing growth in government spending. For instance, the center argues that the executive budget would increase school aid by $1.5 billion, or 7 percent, on top of last year’s increase. Gov. David Paterson proposed cutting $800 million from the executive budget offered earlier this year by former Gov. Eliot Spitzer before he resigned in disgrace, but it would still result in total state spending growth of 3.7 percent. The millionaire tax has the support of the Assembly, but Paterson has said it’s not the right time to raise taxes and Senate Republicans have rejected the idea entirely. Another group pushing for a tax increase is the Center for a Tobacco Free New York. The coalition spent $200,000 on radio advertisements and print ads that support doubling the $1.50 cigarette tax for a total $3 per-pack tax. The ad starts with a song reminiscent of superhero cartoon themes, and a deep voice proclaiming “Most New York leaders can’t bend steel with their bare hands. None can leap tall buildings with a single bound. But all can save lives with a single vote to increase the cigarette tax.” The ad argues that the increase would raise more than $480 million and prevent more than 290,000 children and teenagers from starting smoking. Anti-smoking groups have long sought to increase the cost of buying cigarettes to deter people from the habit. The coalition is buying ads in all major daily newspapers outside of New York City.
New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, a coalition including the state’s large public employee unions, is paying more than $100,000 for radio advertisements that argue for a tax increase for people with incomes of $1 million or more because “the wealthiest New Yorkers just aren’t paying their fair share.” The ad says the only alternative would be cutting funding for hospitals, schools and colleges.
Do unions pay taxes....they collect money.....have a payroll too....
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
CAPITOL Critics decry block of tax on wealthy BY BOB CONNER Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Bob Conner at 462-2499 or bconner@dailygazette.net.
A couple of “billionaires for Bruno” and 10 advocates for higher welfare benefits protested outside the Senate chamber Thursday. The two “billionaires,” dressed in old-fashioned rich guy costumes, were purportedly thanking Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno, RBrunswick, for blocking a proposal by Assembly Democrats to increase state income taxes on those making $1 million and more per year from 6.85 percent to 7.7 percent. They said their names were Phil T. Rich and Rob M. Blind, but were in fact Peter Looker and Joseph Seeman, two Saratoga County activists often seen at anti-war protests and other political events. They issued a list of 10 reasons why taxing the rich is a bad idea. No. 8 was, “A million a year is not that much when you have two kids in Ivy League Schools, vacation homes in the Hamptons and the Vineyards, housekeepers, nannies, groundskeepers, chauffeurs, butlers and tax shelter experts to pay, and a large residence on Central Park West.” Ron Deutsch, of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, later Thursday issued a more serious list of reasons to support the Assembly’s tax proposal, and held out hope that it would be revived when the state runs short of revenue later this month or year. He cited support for the idea from Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who in a March 27 letter to Gov. David Paterson said it makes more sense than cutting state and local government spending. But it wasn’t just Republicans who opposed the tax increase. Neither Paterson nor former Gov. Eliot Spitzer, both of whom are Democrats, supported it. According to a March 26 article by E.J. McMahon, director of the fi scally conservative Empire Center for New York State Policy and posted on its Web site: “Higher marginal income tax rates will discourage the targeted individuals from living, working and investing in New York — the very last step the state ought to be considering in such a troubled economic climate.” Mark Dunlea, executive director of the Hunger Action Network, led the welfare grant protesters, saying it is unconscionable that the grant has not been raised in 18 years. Assemblyman Keith Wright, DManhattan, contacted later, agreed. He said part of the proposed incometax increase could have funded the Assembly majority’s proposal to increase the basic welfare grant by 10 percent a year for three years. But neither Spitzer nor Paterson supported raising the welfare grant, and Wright acknowledged that prospects for passing it and the tax increase in this budget are not good. Dunlea also supported the Assembly tax proposal and criticized the budget process, saying special interests are getting taken care of in secret deals, while the poor are not. He said the federal government rates New York second worst in the country at helping people transition from welfare to the work force. That’s because, he said, the state invests in make-work programs instead of education and job training.
They issued a list of 10 reasons why taxing the rich is a bad idea. No. 8 was, “A million a year is not that much when you have two kids in Ivy League Schools, vacation homes in the Hamptons and the Vineyards, housekeepers, nannies, groundskeepers, chauffeurs, butlers and tax shelter experts to pay, and a large residence on Central Park West.”
I'm sorry did I shed a tear for ya.....yes I did.....Fix the systems and stop grabbing US in the balls and stay out of our pockets......we ALL work hard for our $$ and what we have....if you find a butler to be worth your $$ be my guest....in the end everyone has someone wiping their butts clean and changing their diapers, and wiping their face off after being fed their pureed food......
As for honest earned $$---that is for someone else to decide.......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
CAPITOL Special legislative session to focus on tax proposals GOP seeks cap, Democrats want millionaires to pay more BY MICHAEL GORMLEY The Associated Press
The Senate’s Republican majority is planning their chamber’s special session on Friday to support a cap on property tax growth. Meanwhile, a poll finds 78 percent of New Yorkers favor a proposal by the Assembly’s Democratic majority to raise income taxes on New Yorkers who make $1 million or more a year. Despite the public posturing that plays well to each majority’s voter base, neither measure is expected to be approved in both houses to become law. That’s the kind of “Albany twostep” that billionaire B. Thomas Golisano on Wednesday said he hopes to combat. He plans to spend at least $5 million on candidates for the state Legislature that focus on issues he sought to enact in his past unsuccessful runs for governor. Golisano said he will contribute to candidates who fill out his questionnaire and support his key issues. They include improving the upstate economy and reducing the infl uence of teachers’ union and other special interests on state spending and legislation. He also threatened to oppose in the 2010 elections any candidate he funds this year, but who breaks their promise. He said he hasn’t made any decision on who to support or oppose yet. “We’re doing something a lot of special interests have done in Albany for 100 years,” Golisano said. “What we need are legislators who have the courage and fortitude to say, ‘You can’t buy me.’” Golisano was critical of the Democratic majority in the Assembly as well as the Republican majority in the Senate. He said the Senate GOP hasn’t improved the long sagging upstate economy despite claiming it did, while blaming a lack of greater success on the Assembly Democrats. The fall elections could lead to dueling billionaires, as billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is expected to continue support Senate Republicans who have supported him on city issues. Golisano says he hasn’t decided who to support, but he is expected to favor many Senate Democrats seeking to erase the Republicans’ one-vote majority this year after decades in control. On Friday, the Senate’s Republican majority will vote for Gov. David Paterson’s bill to cap the growth in school and local government property taxes to 4 percent a year, unless school district voters overwhelmingly agree to exceed it. The Senate GOP also plans to approve its own proposal to reduce school district costs for pensions and energy through more state subsidies. “Enacting a property tax cap is a good starting point, but it is only one piece of the puzzle,” said Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, a Long Island Republican. But even with the Senate’s support Paterson’s proposal to cap school taxes to a growth of 4 percent a year, or 20 percent above inflation, whichever is less, appears unlikely to become law. The Assembly’s Democrats prefer a “circuit breaker,” which would further subsidize property taxes for middle class and poorer New Yorkers based on income. The powerful New York State United Teachers union also opposed the cap, saying it would unfairly limit local taxes used to help students and lower class sizes by hiring more teachers. NYSUT ran a TV and radio ad campaign this summer opposing Paterson’s tax cap. A July Siena College poll found 75 percent of New Yorkers supported a circuit breaker, even more than those who supported a cap. A June poll found 72 percent of New Yorkers supported Paterson’s cap of the nation’s highest property taxes. Paterson, however, is still pushing for a tax cap. He has called the Legislature back to Albany on Aug. 19 for an emergency economic session to consider ways to cut spending by $600 million this year. He said that is needed to head off a growing deficit. In July, he cut $650 million from the executive branch to fill the first budget gap. The next cuts will be harder, and could target school aid and other funding from popular programs on which legislators run re-election campaigns. Among them is Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s idea of a higher income tax on earnings that exceed $1 million. Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll found 78 percent of New York voters support the millionaire’s tax, while 56 percent prefer that the Legislature cut spending, rather than raise taxes to meet the state’s fiscal crisis. Paterson said a growing deficit is now projected to be $26.2 billion over the next three years. The poll interviewed 1,409 voters last Thursday through Monday. It’s margin of error is about 3 percentage points.
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