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.

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2 Responses to “Why is the Governor protecting millionaires?”

• Jon Greenbaum says:

  April 16, 2009 at 3:38 pm

  Are you Gay? Jon Greenbaum?
  or are you just bitter and depressed.
  The Germans have a word for taking pleasure in the misery of others it’s called schadenfreude. That describes you, miserable and bitter, envious and spiteful full of schadenfreude.

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• What is Paterson Protecting? | DragonFlyEye.Net says:

  March 13, 2009 at 12:37 pm

  [...] and watch at home because he’s spending the night in the tank? Do […] DragonFlyEye.NetJon at Chant Down Babylon: Why is the Governor protecting millionaires?At the Rochester Town Hall meeting person after person asked the Governor about the budget cuts. The [...]

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