Bloomberg Won't Leave NY With A Fair Tax And Neither Will His Rich Friends

Mayor Bloomberg and all the other wealthy people in this state are not going to get up and leave if we make the state income tax progressive. Raising the rate for those that earn in the top 3-4% is not going to cause a mass exodus of the elite class and they know it. However, Mayor Bloomberg continues to make that fearmongering argument and so do his not-as-rich apologist allies like Governor Paterson and Majority Leader Smith. It is time to let that talking point go, and allow the rich to pay their fair share of this budget deficit. Simply put, the facts on the ground do not match the political rhetoric we hear from the mayor and the governor.

From The NY Times:

“At the level we’re talking about, there’s no quantitative evidence that it affects the mobility decisions of affluent taxpayers,” said Douglas S. Massey, a demographer at Princeton University and president of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Pressured by enormous budget deficits, officials in Illinois, Hawaii, Wisconsin and New Jersey are considering new taxes on the rich. Lawmakers in Albany have discussed several proposals, including increases for those earning more than $250,000.

But even experts who oppose such taxes on other grounds — out of fear that they will retard economic growth and innovation, or encourage lawmakers to indulge in bouts of new spending — concede that there is not much evidence that raising taxes on the wealthy would drive out a significant number.

For example, one state that has raised taxes on the rich has been the very-affluent New Jersey. Let's see what has been going on there shall we?

New Jersey raised taxes on the wealthy in 2004, increasing by 2.6 percent the tax rate levied on those making more than $500,000 a year; and Gov. Jon S. Corzine this month proposed a new increase on high earners.

But a study by Professor Massey and two colleagues, published in September, estimated that the previous tax increase cost New Jersey only 50 to 350 existing “half-millionaire” households — a relatively small number against the total of 44,000 such households in the state.

And the benefits in terms of revenue have netted the Garden State more than $850 million a year.

The reality is that if any class is leaving the city in droves, it is the working class. Studies have shown that those that earn around the median salary or below are moving outside the city so they can afford a livelihood. The fair share plan will help stem that tide by shifting the economic burden so that it isn't completely laid on the backs of the poor.

Fair Share Tax Effort Needs Your Help Now!

The chances of the state budget having a fair share tax added to it just diminished last night when the Senate met last night. Malcolm Smith has apparently decided to go with more cuts and no tax increases for the wealthy despite a large contingent of Democrats supporting the Fair Share plan. Instead, it looks like the Majority Leader is more comfortable siding with a few in his caucus and the Republican side of the aisle instead of what the people voted for overwhelmingly in the November elections. With that, the unions and all those that support less cuts to the budget are reaching out to us so that the Senate is inundated with messages to support a tax increase on the wealthy as opposed to more burdens placed on the working class.

From The Times-Union:

Dear XXXXX,
We need your urgent help!
The New York State Senate is about to vote on a budget bill that would make devastating cuts to important services our state’s families and children rely on — services like education, health care, and community services.
There’s still time to keep these cuts from happening. But we’re down to the wire and need your help to tell Democratic state senators to speak out against these cuts. It will only hurt our communities during a time when New Yorkers need to rely on services more than ever.
Please take a moment to write your state senator and urge them to support a fair solution to the budget crisis — Fair Share Tax Reform:
http://www.fairsharereform.com/senatebill
This solution would ask our state’s wealthiest taxpayers to contribute their fair share to close the state’s budget gap — so that our state’s working families don’t have to bear the brunt of the burden.
We need additional revenue to help close the state’s $14 billion budget gap — not cuts that would hurt everyone.
Write your senator now:
http://www.fairsharereform.com/senatebill
Thank you so much for your urgent help.
In solidarity,
George Gresham
President, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East

As the article by Irene Jay Liu prefacing the letter states, what the Senate decides on tomorrow isn't binding, but it does set the general direction of how they want the budget to look. The important thing to note here is that if both the Assembly and the Senate have some form of tax increase on the wealthy, the compromise will look a lot better than if one chamber has only cuts and the other has the increase. So get to the Fair Share website and then call and/or email your Senator so we get a budget that is fair to all New Yorkers.

Bloomberg Defends NY's Poor Millionaires

After tens of thousands of New Yorkers came out to support the Fair Share Tax plan, someone needed to speak up for the wealthy elite. Being a millionaire must be tough these days, only being able to buy one yacht instead of two. So who better to speak up for their rights than our billionaire Mayor?

From The Daily Politics:

"We can tax the rich, except that, if you haven't looked at the stock market lately, they aren't making any money," the billionaire mayor told John Gambling during his weekly WOR radio show.

"They're not making that money," Bloomberg continued. "I hear the protesters, you know. I think that deep down inside, I assume, they understand that we live in a different world."

"The first rule of taxation is, you can't tax those that - too much - you can't tax too much those that can move. And a very small percentage of people do account for a big part of our income."

"You know, the yelling and screaming about the rich, we want rich from around this country to move here. We love the rich people."

"They're the ones that buy in the stores so that people that work in the stores have jobs in the stores, generate sales tax. The rich are the ones that go to the expensive restaurants where, as a matter of fact, I looked at a list the other day of restaurants where the staff is unionized. They're the expensive restaurants. They're not the cheap restaurants."

Wow, does Bloomberg really think that us proles will believe that crap? The riff-raff that Bloomberg expects to vote him into a third term is suffering more than it has in decades. Yet Bloomberg wants to make the poor pay for the budget cuts.

If we would focus on getting the working class back to work, it would be they that would purchase the goods and dine at the stores. The rich already do that, in good times and bad. The rich aren't going to move out of New York, because this city offers so much to so many, especially those with money to spend. And this may be news to the Mayor, but it is the working class and the poor that are being driven out of the city by the thousands. Thanks to zoning laws that favor developers and the real estate industry, affordable housing is an afterthought to Bloomberg and the units he leaves aren't affordable to those that make less than the median salary.

Mayor Bloomberg is clearly out of touch, just another reason to show him the door in November.

Tens Of Thousands Rally For Fair Share Tax Reform

Governor Paterson, Majority Leader Malcolm Smith and a few too many other State Senators have not come forward as of yet to support the Fair Share Tax Reform Act. What the proposed bill would do is simple. Instead of punishing the working class for the budget deficits caused by Wall Street's unadulterated greed, we should split that burden with the rich by making the state income tax progressive in nature with a tiered system.

However, with multiple bills presented in the Senate, Majority Leader Smith has not shown the leadership necessary to support his middle class constituents. Instead, he and the governor are listening to the lobbyists of big business at the expense of hard working New Yorkers. So what are those New Yorkers to do? Turn out for a huge rally at City Hall Park.

Having the afternoon off, I had to go down and join the action, though I had no idea how many people would actually show. Here's the first sight I saw:



Don't worry, all the cops were on their best behavior at the event with what looked like a good amount of people, perhaps even a couple thousand. Then I was told I had to walk over a block and then up a few to enter the crowd you see behind the sleepy police officer.



While walking, all sorts of signs were on display, including this sweet guy that still refers to his mother as "Mommy."



Once I went around, I got a better view of the stage and not surprisingly it was full of politicians and union organizers. If you can't tell the man at the podium is City Comptroller and Mayoral candidate Bill Thompson.



While the speeches were great, they were mostly the same, so I decided to venture away from the stage and check out the people who showed up for this. As you can tell, the area around the four-block long park was packed. The park however, was only so big, so the crowd overflow was led up Broadway. Jumbo-trons and sound systems were set up so that people could hear who were nearly a mile up the street. At one point the crowd was checked at 40,000 people....40,000, on a Thursday afternoon! Ahem, Governor Paterson, that translates quite a few votes, if you know what I'm saying, cough, primary race next year, cough, cough.



Then just before I reached the back of the crowd, I ran into City Council candidate Josh Skaller, who came out from Brooklyn to demand that Albany listen to the demands of working New Yorkers. He may look happy and serene in the picture, but he's ready to get tough and defend this barricade and many more if he gets the chance to represent the 39th Council District.

Tens of thousands of dedicated working people, all who can vote and want to not only be heard, but recognized and respected by their Governor and the rest of the politicians up in Albany. I certainly hope they got the message to support this legislation. Of course, it doesn't hurt to keep reminding them. You can do that by contacting your legislator and by getting involved locally.

Betsy Gotbaum's Mediocre One Minute At The Fair Share Rally

I took this video in the afternoon during the Fair Share Tax Rally downtown. The crowd was great and at first Gotbaum sounded pretty decent and enthused about being on stage. The ending however, especially the last twenty seconds and her laughter was not as inspirational as I'd have hoped it to be.



Could you imagine Mark Green, Norman Siegel, John Liu (he just dropped out) or Eric Gioia sounding like that? Yeah, I don't think so either.

Stand Up For The Fair Share Plan This Thursday At City Hall

Fair share tax reform is one of the most important debates within the state budget battle this year. If New York could pass this legislation and raise half amount needed to close the budget gap with a progressive tax scale, the implications going forth are instrumental. For far too long, the income gap has been widening between rich and poor at exponential levels. Something must be done to turn that tide and bring our society back to shared human values and not just pure, unadulterated greed.

The Fair Share Plan is a crucial step for us to not only help us in this fiscal crisis but from here on out so that we can take care of our communities whether it be in good times or bad. Even during the boom years, it was the wealthy that got ahead and the rest of us remained static. To change that we must pass the fair share bill in the State Senate. While we have more than twenty on our side, it is up to the community to push a few more of them to vote the right way. If you are in Manhattan Thursday afternoon, come out to City Hall and have your voice heard.

From Fair Share Reform:

Devastating budget cuts threaten our communities, our jobs, our neighbors and our families. Join union members, community groups, non-profit organizations and concerned citizens to speak out against the dangerous budget proposals now being considered in Albany and City Hall.

Download the rally flyer here to spread the word: http://FairShareReform.com/NYCflyer

Call the Rally Hotline at 718-222-3796 x.248 for more information. Please be sure to dial the extension.

Time:	Thursday, March 5 from 4:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Host:	Shain Anderson
Location:	City Hall (New York, NY) New York, NY 10007

If you know you can make it, sign up here and let the organizers know. It may be a Thursday afternoon, but a strong showing of people, who then call their Senators and tell their friends to do the same can make a huge difference.

See you there!

More Progressive State Tax Begins To Take Shape

6.85%

That is the same rate of income tax that a person who earns $50,000 as one that makes $500,000 or even $50,000,000. The burden of course, is on the middle class taxpayer, who feels that 6.85% much more than the other two. Yet in our quest to fill a $13 billion dollar budget gap, our Governor is asking the middle class to bear the brunt of the cuts he wants to enact. The idea of a millionaire's tax was initially floated by progressive groups and unions, only to morph into a more solid plan to make the tax on a more equitable scale. Last week there was talk of this in the State Senate and finally, it is an actual piece of legislation trying to make its way into law.

From The NY Times:

A group of Senate Democrats plans to introduce a bill on Tuesday that would impose an income tax of 10.3 percent on the highest-earning New Yorkers, a rise of 3.45 percentage points, and increase taxes on all households that earn more than $250,000 a year.

The plan, which supporters estimated could bring in up to $6 billion annually to the depleted state treasury, is one of several options Albany lawmakers are considering as an alternative to the reductions in social services and smaller, more focused tax increases that Gov. David A. Paterson has proposed.[...]

With the Democrats now in control, the bill seems to stand a better chance of passing. But not all 32 Democratic members have signed on, including Malcolm A. Smith, the majority leader, who said on Monday that he was not convinced a tax increase was the right solution for New York’s budget crisis.

“Let’s talk about what the problem is,” Mr. Smith said to reporters as he was leaving a conference of the New York Bankers Association in downtown Albany on Monday afternoon. “The problem is foreclosures. The problem is a $15 billion deficit. The problem is trying to figure out how do we create jobs in this economy. So in that regard, I’m not sure if taxes is the way you do that.”

Malcolm seems to be hanging out with the Governor a little too much lately. That was Paterson's argument last month and it didn't hold weight. First of all, the deficit is at $13.7 billion (according to the Governor), not $15 billion. Second, that is still a big number, and we need different ways of addressing the problem. No one is calling this a panacea but closing half of the gap in a progressive tax is a smart idea. The rest can come in smaller cuts and whatever we get from the economic stimulus that the President will hopefully sign soon. The state budget can be balanced, but our leaders need to show...what's that thing called again? Oh yeah, leadership, leadership to get us through these tough times and practice the "shared sacrifice" that they preach.