Unshackle Upstate’s Brian Sampson is making the news circuit these last few weeks with the message that Fair Share Tax Reform would cause small businesses to fire workers (the Fair Share Tax Reform is making progress in Albany with bills that would create new NYS marginal tax brackets starting at $250,000). He says that 75% of small business owners pay taxes through personal income tax.
Ok, sounds like a reasonable concern, right?
Meanwhile, back in the reality-based community
According to James Parrott, of the Fiscal Policy Institute, “only 1.4% of tax units with small business income were in the top two federal tax brackets, i.e., over $250K.” The VAST majority of small business owners don’t make that kind of money and therefore would never be subject to the Fair Share tax.
And let’s think about Unshackle Upstate’s logic for a minute. Imagine you are one of the rare group of small business owners netting over $250,000. The new Fair Share Tax Reform tax bracket costs you about $70 a week extra. Are you going to fire a worker to recoup that seventy bucks?
The good news is that Sampson’s disingenuous media forays are the last gasps of a sinking trickle down theory. Wanna see a New Yorker laugh in your face? Tell them that tax breaks for the rich create jobs.
Tags:
Brian Sampson,
fair share tax reform,
NYS budget deficit,
Trickle Down,
Unshackle Upstate
At the Rochester Town Hall meeting person after person asked the Governor about the budget cuts. The community is appalled at the impact of these cuts on the programs that we rely on.
The Governor has a choice. He can either cut programs or raise revenue. Going against the advice of dozens of economists (including two Nobel laureates and President Obama’s budget director), Paterson has chosen, in the middle of a recession, to handout pink slips to NYers and cut the programs that help NYers keep their heads above water.
Why is the Governor protecting the wealthiest 4%?
The wealthiest New Yorkers have enjoyed seeing their tax rate cut in half over the past 30 years. NY’s income tax brackets don’t extend past 20 grand (so whether you make $20,000 or $2 million you still pay the same rate). In fact when you add up property taxes (ouch!) and sales taxes you end up paying MORE of your income in taxes than Donald Trump.
So why is the Governor protecting the smallest special interest group in the state (the very wealthy)?
Is it that they contribute to his campaigns?
He says that the wealthy will leave NY and take jobs with them.
Hmmm.. Let’s see, giving the wealthy tax breaks will help create jobs. Where have we heard that before?
Will the wealthy leave NY if we raise their income tax? Boy, it would be good if we had some hard data in order to assess that possibility.
Oh, wait we do.
In 2003 NYS temporarily raised the income tax on the wealthiest 2% and their ranks actually grew. More rich people flocked to NY than got on a plane for Florida.
Same thing happened in NJ when they raised their income taxes on the wealthy. Princeton actually did a study on it. http://www.princeton.edu/prior/PRIOReconomy-Final-(2).pdf.
Turns out the wealthy stick around where there are some cool lifestyles. And it turns out NY is pretty cool. And it turns out businesses make decisions about where to locate based on a bunch of things like the education of the workforce and access to markets and energy costs and stuff like that. Taxes are WAY down the list of considerations.
At the Town Hall Forum Paterson told the liquor store owners that he is basing his decision on the data and if they had contrary data he would look at it.
Well, the data is in and myth about millionaires fleeing is officially debunked. Does the Governor have some other data or is this just some cynical political ploy?
Stop protecting the wealthy from paying their fair share. They earn the vast majority of NY’s income. If there were 100 random NYers in a room, the wealthiest 5 people in that room would earn about as much as the other 95 combined. It’s time for the state to stop coddling these folks and require them to step up and kick in their fair share.
Tags:
fair share tax reform,
Governor Paterson,
millionaire's tax,
NYS budget deficit
Chronically Undemocratic Headline:
150 in Rochester rally against Paterson budget plan
HUH??
We just completed counting up all the people who signed the petition to the Governor at the Fair Share Tax Reform Rally yesterday at the Liberty Pole, downtown Rochester. The total is 390. So, if by “150″ the Democrat and Chronicle means “390″ then yes, they are accurate. Otherwise they undercounted by 62%.
The rally was notable for the diverse range of households in the community represented. We had teachers and students, people from their churches, unions and community groups.
The speakers were powerful. Delaine Cook Greene talked about the impact of the budget cuts on NPC’s (neighborhood preservation corporations) like CONEA where she works. Chris Hildebrant from Center for Disability Rights talked about the impact on services for people with disabilities, Wilson Foundation Academy student Kae’sean Glover talked about the effect on students like himself and Carla Carey, a fourth grade teacher testified about the effects already being felt in the classrooms in her city school. Pastor George Nicholas called on Governor Paterson to go down the moral path and include the majority of working families and people with low incomes in his budget, not just protect the wealthy. Michelle Lane talked about cuts to nursing facilities. And we got a surprise appearance from Montgomery Burns who kept asking for Smithers. He was joined by other billionaires supporting Governor Paterson’s position that the state should cuts services before we even thinking about asking the wealthy to pay their fair share.
The crowd was LOUD!
Pastor George Nicholas
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