Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Extra, Extra
Early Addition
Photo courtesy AP/Louis Lanzano
With all of the headlines going to the plethora of angles to come out of the big Election Night fallout, Mayor Bloomberg took the opportunity yesterday to drop a bombshell on us: personal income taxes for city residents could be going up as much as 15%. That idea came out of the mayor's press conference yesterday addressing the grim state of the city economy where he also revealed that the previously promised $400 tax rebate would no longer be happening. That's a move that even #1 Bloomberg ally Speaker Quinn said she was troubled by.
The budget maneuverings are the most dramatic ones the mayor has proposed since after 9/11 when he raised sales and income taxes, as well as property taxes by almost 20%. A 15% increase on income taxes would mean that those making between 50k and 75k a year would be paying almost $250 more in annual taxes. That's enough to prompt the Daily News to include a poll alongside their story: "If income taxes are raised up to 15%, would you consider moving out of New York City?"
And how does this all play into the mayor's campaign for a historic third term with Election 2009 now in the immediate horizon? Is he playing reverse jujitsu knowing that raising taxes is such an unpopular election year move that it would make New Yorkers cling to him tighter in the face of just how severe economic conditions are? In an interview with WCBS Radio just this morning, the mayor said, "The tougher things are going to get, the more obligation I have to stay here."
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wow
Didn't you sort of know this was going to happen?
LORD BLOOMBERG giveth and LORD BLOOMBERGE taketh!
Bow to your masters, SLAVE!
Fuck You, New York!
Wow, bend over New Yorkers....
LMAO at people trying to justify this asshole's fascist power grab.
"The tougher things are going to get, the more obligation I have to stay here." can anyone say 4th term? what if things don't improve??
Is it still too far fetched to think think this dick is trying to make NYC his own personal amusement park for the rich and famous?
Tell us what we're going to get out of this extra $250. A solvent MTA? Cleaner streets? Less corrupt cops? A real, functioning train station? Mr. Mayor, what exactly is this money for? To cover for your incorrect budget projections? So that we don't go bankrupt?
We need to improve a lot in this city. I'm willing to pony up to get it done, but I really don't trust that it will happen. It's just $250 a year. But I refuse to simply throw money in your direction without gaining something in return.
Boohoo, one less Ipod a year for y'all.
I'm with Duffy. Chipping in an extra $250 a year for professional, honest cops would be well worth the expense.
Of course we might ask why we have psychos with power of arrest and a loaded gun wandering the street to begin with. Most people tut-tut at this point and lay out the usual "few bad apples" line. Given the ability to fuck with people's lives that the cops wield any bad apples on the force are bad for the public.
It's not as if we would need to cut services. All we need is a government with the political balls to fire the people who sit around all day doing nothing in gov't jobs. Not all of them are like that, but I've seen enough to know that in some offices you could easily fire half the staff and not miss a beat. That right there would close the budget gap overnight.
#6 SILENCE SLAVE! Lord Bloomberg has spoken and he is here to stay! The hell with the constitution, what do you think this is? 1776?
It's 2008 baby, freedom is out, fascism is in!
How about cutting into the entitlement programs? We have generations of civil service workers retiring at relatively young ages, and then getting lucrative pensions for decades. Often these folks are young enough to start second careers. And often in other cities or states while collecting NYC payments.
yeah how bout those entitlement programs given to the NYPD. how bout cutting down on their lawsuit budget? what's that amount? how much is budgeted for abuse and settlement payments?
i agree w/ the commenters above that if i were making btwn 50 and 75K, I probably wouldn't mind another $250 in taxes... but that's only IF i felt like the money was going towards the thing the city needs (which, to anyone who actually has to live in this city and is not hyper-rich, is fairly obvious)... I also agree with the commenters wanting to cut costs... We COULD manage both and put the city in pretty great shape....
Problem is: I sincerely doubt any of this will happen under Bloomberg. in the end, our services will continue to deteriorate due to lack of funding, the funding we do have will go to morons doing nothing, and we'll all wind up paying more in taxes for no good reason. I also doubt any better alternative will be offered by either challenging party. Ho-hum, oh well, we're fucked.
Doomberg is trying to sell this by claiming he is laying off 3000 city employees. the city has almost 300,000 employees. What a moron. Make the necessary cuts to the bloat and all the useless programs. This guy grew the budget like he had a limitless credit card and now expects us to pick up the tab? I dont think so. I wouldnt pay another dime to the city. I already pay enough, more than I would in any other locality in the nation.
And how many teachers do we have sitting in the "rubber rooms" spread throughout the city still drawing their FULL SALARIES - some have been there for 2-3 years drawing FULL SALARIES because they are a danger to the classroom but they are afraid to fire them. Last year there was something close to 1000 teachers in those rooms I hear, all playing cards, board games, surfing the internet, reading the papers, etc. If they can't teach then fire their asses. Enough of this crap.
wow - cut the budget and raise taxes. only a true economic genius like bloompig could have figured that one out. now i see why we need him as mayor for 12, 16, 20+ years.
well after working only 5 days in 3 months its time to say goodbye. Canada accepted my application. I shall be moving to ontario canada. going to work as a painter for a huge company there. its been real. Keep your bloomberg im done. And no I dont have a house to sell , i rented lol
Piece of shit Bloomberg overrides the will of the people and elects himself for a third term and then raises taxes 15%. How do you like them apples?
You have got to be kidding me.
$50,000 is barely enough to make ends meet in this city, and he wants us to pay MORE? For LESS?
Fire the bloated, lazy, incompetent city staff. Hire one intelligent, hard-working person
to replace every four of them. Pension reform.
I was planning on moving, but now I can't move fast enough.
Lets see...
$50,000 is basically approximately $1350 per pay period if you get paid every other week (26 Weeks)
$250 more per year in taxes / 26 Pay period weeks = 9 Dollars and 61 Cents.
THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!! Those 50k earners will have to switch from Fancy Feast to Kibbles-n-Bits.
For Shame Mayor Bloomberg... FOR SHAME.
I'm going to need to win that Congressional Medal of Honor if this shit keeps up...
#22 KOJAK, what's a matter? 15% isn't high enough for you or are you really Bloomberg himself?
It's not like its cheaper any place within a 75 mile radius of NYC.
Kojak,
It's not the city's money. It's mine. Mine that I'm saving to pay for my graduate education, my wedding, and to live decently (fifth floor walk up in Harlem, I don't buy lunch but make food for the week, modest!).
Yeah, but go 24 miles farther and you've got Philly. Good enough for me. I love Philly.
I'm not saying its not high enough but its not the type of tax hike that will break the bank. If spending cuts amounting to the same amount are done along side this hike, city finances may end up in better shape then they would have been. Gov't Ahhhnorld in California is taking the same steps and so are many other cities and states. An even handed approach to bridging the gap is the best way to solve this deficit problem.
Your WEDDING camarilla?? That sounds like an extravagance. You need to get your butt to Vegas. Its only $34 for a drive through wedding with Elvis as your DJ.
If I pay an extra 15% do I get a $1000 rent voucher from the city?
$250 is enough for me to buy food for two months. That's a significant tax hike for a place that already has the highest local tax burden in the country, sorry.
It's even worse in light of the astounding amount of government bureaucrat bloating that could be cut instead.
I'd be happy with a wedding factory, Caribbean resorts do them free with your stay, but he wants to get married Catholic style.
The point is, it's mine, I work hard, I save, and the city ROBBETH away.
Still want another four years, you piece of shit?
"Yeah, but go 24 miles farther and you've got Philly."
Our mayor gave a similar budget pronouncement yesterday. No tax increases (yet?), but planned tax cuts are no longer going to occur, and big cuts in services.
"cut the budget and raise taxes. only a true economic genius like bloompig could have figured that one out." - #18
true. haha. what an egomaniac. i like how now that things are bad, we need him "more than ever"... yet he's had six seven years now to do something to prevent this, but hasn't. what a maniac.
What did everyone expect. The city made a lot on taxing all that funny money in Wall St.
Poof! Now it's coming out of our pockets.
Yay for another itemized deduction.
/Bright side.
Its not just the extra 15% a yr. its the 15% on top of the ridiculous percentage we already pay.