Not Just A Millionaire's Tax, A Progressive Tax For NY

I can not write about this enough, we need a change in our tax system, both here in New York and in the country. The income gap and the asset gap in our society has been widening at an alarming pace and consequently, things have gotten bad for the many at the behest of a wealthy few. Also, because of the economic mismanagement we've seen, the large majority of us are expected to bear the burden. As the apologists for the upper class say, we don't want them to leave, so we can't tax them anymore.

Now as any half-decent American historian can tell you, taxes for the rich used to be a lot higher. Yet they stayed where they were and...surprise, surprise, they did pretty well in spite of those taxes we in 2009 would deem astronomical. Bit by bit over time though, rates have fallen to where they are now, so that Republicans cry bloody murder when Democrats suggest the top tax bracket be restored to 39%.

Here in New York we face a budget crisis much like everyone else, where either we cut services, raises myriad taxes or take out loans. Well we can't do the loans for very long so for the better part of a few decades, the programs to aid the poor and middle class have been slashed by a thousands cuts. Recently, over the protests of the Governor, progressive groups and some in the Legislature have proposed a millionaire's tax, so that we raise a nice chunk of quick cash to decrease the deficit. Yet that does not go far enough and as the news shows today, a few State Senators are starting to get that there is a bigger picture to consider.

From PressConnects:

"This is an opportunity for us to develop a fairer tax system in New York," said Senate Deputy Majority Leader Jeff Klein, D-Bronx. "Any plan should include putting more money back into the pockets of the middle class."

Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, said it's unclear whether a tax cut would be feasible in the face of the state's $13 billion budget deficit.

But, he said, "In addition to the fact that we're looking to raise revenue to deal with the deficit, there are a lot of us who view the state tax system as out of whack and would like to restore some progressivity as part of this process as well."

A progressive policy formula is the only thing that will save us. Cutting programs and raising taxes on the middle class has not worked for us and will not work today or in the future. Yet we need more than the support of just Senators Klein and Schneiderman, we also need the Assembly to be on board.

Silver acknowledged this week that the state's tax code needs to be changed permanently. Currently, the top state personal income tax rate is 6.85 percent: for a family earning $40,000 a year or for a person earning $4 million a year.

"It is unfair that people who make $50,000 are paying the same tax rate as people who are making $50 million a year," Silver said.

But Silver warned that such changes should be a "long-range goal" and not necessarily part of the discussions to close the next year's budget gap.

It is unfair, he's right. Though waiting to change the system and calling it a long-term goal is dead wrong. In these times, we need to change the system and quick fixes, even if they are well intentioned is simply not enough. Albany is starting to listen, but we need to put more pressure on them so that Shelly Silver and even Governor Paterson understands that the system as we know it is broken. It must be changed.