The last time I expressed mild opposition to next year's scheduled sunsetting of the top rates of New York's income tax, a commenter on Facebook called me a "dumbass class warfare union thug." So I may as well quote yesterday's press release from Ron Deutsch, executive director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness (which is pretty much a mouthpiece for New York State United Teachers), who is rightly critical of Gov. Andrew Cuomo for supporting the sunset -- i.e. expiration -- of the top rates:
"In 2009, Albany took a step in the right direction by passing this exceedingly modest surcharge: one percent on incomes between $300,000 and $500,000 and about two percent on incomes above that.
Though the wealthy barely feel it, the policy has been a godsend for the state. It generates almost $5 billion a year. ... Extending the high-end surcharge is the first step towards fixing our state’s economy; the Governor’s proposals are a train speeding in the opposite direction."
I don't share Deutsch's opposition to "property tax caps, spending freezes and service cuts," because I think they are necessary. But so is the revenue from the top rates of income tax. The 2009 law corrected a bizarrely inequitable state income tax structure where there were (and are) a jumble of rates kicking in below $40,000, but every household making more than that was paying the same rate. With the structural budget deficit at $10 billion in 2011 and rising thereafter by several billion a year (according to Cuomo), New York can't afford to go back.
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