New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio just called for taxes to “redistribute the wealth” following huge budget gaps in the years ahead. He addressed these plans during his final “State of the City Address” about putting higher taxes on the rich and generating income that would aid the local economy.
The problem is that he wouldn’t provide specifics about what income levels would make the cut for taxing “New York’s wealthiest.” If he can’t provide basic details on his plans, then that’s just more bad news for New York citizens. Taxing the rich would just mean taxing whoever he wants.
“We’re going to work constantly for a fairer economy, and that means we must tax the wealthy and we must redistribute the wealth of this city to those who do the work. Even during the height of the pandemic, we saw the stock market boom. We saw 120 New York billionaires grow their net worth by $77 billion,” de Blasio said in the address.
Mayor de Blasio said millionaires should have higher taxes, but “particularly for billionaires.” State Sen. Jim Gaughran asked the Mayor to further define wealth and what tax rates should be raised. He asked if ‘billionaire’ meant somebody who has a billion dollars or somebody who makes a billion dollars.
“I don’t have my own independent tax suggestion for the state. I just want to tell you directionally. But, I’d be happy to give you further detail. I think after the tax cuts occurred for the wealthy in the Trump administration, the first point is to — and that can only be done on the federal level, obviously — to roll back those tax cuts. I don’t see that happening in the short term,” de Blasio said.
The New York Mayor went on to say that he wanted to be “straightforward” and that he doesn’t have his own independent tax suggestion for the state. “When I can give you a very specific answer, I will,” he said.
Is there ever a time that a Democrat isn’t blaming former President Trump for one of their problems? Local business leaders and restaurant owners criticized the Mayor’s remarks, saying Democratic leaders are the ones who imposed strict lockdowns and failed to provide adequate support in the first place. They’ve created the mess everyone is in.
The city has lost about $10.5 billion in tax revenue, along with the potential to lose $800 million in state education funding, $472 million in health care cuts, and potential cuts to police funding in Gov. Cuomo’s spending proposal. Sen. John Liu asked de Blasio if the Biden Administration plans to keep its promise on increasing state and local aid.
“Right now, we’re very hopeful there’s going to be a serious federal stimulus aid. At this moment I’m not focusing on borrowing authority … I’m hoping we can find much better solutions. No one wants to borrow if you don’t have to borrow,” de Blasio said.
Democrats are budget conscious all of a sudden? They get caught in saying “tax the rich” all the time that they don’t have any clear answers or plans on how to get there. That’s all Democrats do. Talk to hear their own voice.
