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Governor Paterson introduced a budget, full of tax hikes and fees for things like regular soda, beer, movie tickets and online music downloads in addition to big cuts to education spending, to combat a $15.4 billion budget deficit this year and next. Many critics have argued that these taxes—aiming to raise $4 billion—are hitting regular people, and now Governor Paterson tells the NY Times the rich may be taxed.
The governor said, “Taxing the wealthy is probably going to be part of the solution if the deficit gets any worse, and all indications are that it probably will. If the deficit starts to grow again, then we’re out of moves. I’ve cut as much as I could.” However, it's unclear who would be taxed (would it be people making over $250,000 or over $1 million or something in between) and whether the State Senate would pass it.
The Times points out that without a specific tax hike on the rich, Paterson's budget already limits " the amount that millionaires can deduct on their state tax returns," plus "there are also new taxes on luxury items like yachts and furs." The Working Families Party welcomes Paterson's stance; Dan Cantor, Working Families Party Executive Director, said, "Governor Paterson's recognition that balancing New York's budget will require modest tax increases on the rich is heartening. All parts of society will need to sacrifice to end our fiscal crisis. And it's economically and morally sound to require wealthy New Yorkers to pay more in order to prevent even deeper cuts to school children, the elderly and the disabled. The wealthy in New York have have seen their taxes cut in half, and that simply isn't fair."
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"All parts of society will need to sacrifice to end our fiscal crisis."
Except for the pols that deregulated the industry and pushed for low income lending, the bankers that profited from it and got bailed out anyway, and the schmucks who took mortgages that they could never afford and will get to stay in their homes and keep their inflated equity.
If you kept your debt load low and saved and invested conservatively, you are fucked, having to bailout these assholes and see your savings wrecked by inflation.
RECEDING & DEPRESSING
What've we got on our hands? Or rather,
What've we got on our backs?
Varieties of misery--
But something there is that lacks.
A name. The causes differ a bit
But expect a similar session
And a crippling length that may be the same.
How about Redepression?
Hey, the wealthy got us into this mess, so its only fair they should pay to get us out.
Because remember, if you make $250,000 a year you deserve to be in the same tax bracket as somebody "making" $25 million.
#4- Really? All of them?
Wow.. I never knew that.
I love totally ignorant statements like "the wealthy got us into this mess". Hey, my fiance works on Wall Street. He manages other people's money for them. This year, he has managed to keep from losing his clients money (up 1% for the year) - practically a miracle in this market. He never invested in any securities, mortgages, or Madoff funds. He even spoke out against them as a bad investment. Nevertheless, he is utterly screwed by this economic situation, as is everyone who works with him. Everyone on Wall Street got screwed except the people ACTUALLY responsible, who got to keep their 2006 etc bonuses.
Our income is 4/5 less than it was last year. And now, apparently, everyone will gloat as my fiance gets more taxes on him because of the money he worked hard for and saved and invested wisely. He is just as screwed by these sketchy criminal assholes as everybody else. Don't fool yourselves, dumbasses.
Tax hike for the wealthy.
Are you saying there are still some wealthy left?
I say we sell the borough of Staten Island to the Chinese and use the proceeds to cover the state's revenue shortfalls.
damn, the rich are a touchy bunch.
Its not the wealthy who got us in this mess, that is the exact opposite of what happened. Its all these fucknuts who watched MTV Cribs, The Food Channel, and all this other BS and mistakenly thought that by making 50k a year they were suddenly "deserving" of a 800k house and all the shit that fills it.
If anything, its the poor and middle class to blame. After all, was it the rich that put a gun to your head and got you under water on your mortgage? Oh wait, its the other fucknuts who also bought more than they could afford which is driving your house value down and crushing the economy. If anything, the poor should be taxed _more_ for their fucking of everything up.
That, and debtors prisons. Just cause its stealing from a creditor doesn't mean its not still stealing.
If anything, its the poor and middle class to blame. After all, was it the rich that put a gun to your head and got you under water on your mortgage?
If the investment banks didn't buy up shitty mortgages and repackage them as investment grade bonds then the banks that made the loans would have been forced to hold the mortgages on their own books. This in all likelihood would have stopped them from making as many bad loans. Property values would have appreciated only at their normal historical rate. Result: no bubble.
Don't fool yourselves, dumbasses.
Now I'm actually happy your income is falling.
@Optimist
Yes, fuck all those poor people that created credit agencies that gave every mortgage backed security a super-duper A+++ rating. Because the poor and the middle class were like totally, 100% responsible for creating those corrupt agencies. Oh and fuck all those welfare queens that pushed credit default swaps. Yeah, because they were responsible for that too.
Once again, the poor are keeping the rich down. Like always.
I blame the poor on everything. why do they hate on america. them and their mercedes convertibles and jaguars.
Yes, banks shouldn't have lent money to people who should never have been able to afford houses. _however_ look into "Community Reinvestment Act" for a little history.
And yes, the ratings agencies were absolutely retarded to give a mortgage owned by clearly dirt poor people a good ratings should be put in jail as well.
Both the banks _and_ the people who got themselves into loans they couldn't afford are to blame. Do yourself a favor, head up to the Bronx / Brooklyn and see what kind of boxes are left in the recycling bin. I bet you will see more LCD / Plasma TV boxes than you have ever seen before.
And associating the rich with the banking industry is kind of retarded, sure they are rich, but being rich doesn't make you part of the banking industry..
Also, according to the IRS themselves. The lower half of the population (earning 50k and less) only pays *3%* of the total tax burden.
I wonder who is ripping off whom.
The truth can be a bitch sometimes
Most likely all this will do is drive the rich to "move" to some state without an income tax, have their New York homes spun off to a corporation (probably a Delaware one) and New York will not see a penny. Brilliant.
they won't move, they'll just threaten to move.
I can't believe groups like ACORN ruined the entire US economy. my God how could they do that, they're brilliant! Brilliant I say!
fricken poor people shafting us again.
Ha, #7. 4/5 less, eh?
So maybe you'll have to move into a smaller apartment and do your own laundry like the rest of us who have been perfectly responsible tax paying citizens making regular money, unlike your husband. Some of us, if we made 4/5 less than last year would be making less than minimum wage! Is that your case, poor baby?
(for that matter, people making less than minimum wage are certainly not going to feel sorry for you and your husband, mrs nicemarmot. )
#18, you're so right. I've never seen a rich person give more, the less taxes they pay. If anything, they think life is even easier, and lose even more touch with the reality of their employees and domestic help. They think they're being nice giving Prada hand-me-downs to their cleaning ladies. Then they take their sweet time paying them.
listen people, the bottom line is if the state doesn't make cuts to bring its budget even to the level of a few years ago (the budget proposed is still larger than last year despite all the complaining) we all get stuck with the cost. There aren't enough people who make that much money that it will make a difference. It is all a talking point by labor unions, etc to push these costs through. If you think you wont be paying higher taxes as a normal middle class or even lower class person you're a fool.
#20, they may not feel sorry for them, but they will feel sorry when the people who give them their work close up shop and stop paying.
People seem to forget in a _service economy_ that the people making less than minimum wage (of which I was one at one point) count on the rich people to bring the demand up for their jobs to exist.
That is, unless they can afford to spend money at the places they work and become customers (doubtful).
And yes, if NYC starts taxing the wealthy more than everyone else (well, more than they already are) the rich will leave (and trust me, they have been leaving for a while now).
Its really easy to go anywhere else when you are rich. If you are poor, it is expensive to move, and you will be stuck with the demand gone, and with the huge tax burden left on yourselves (since states, by constitution can't run a deficit like the Federal gov can).
So, sure, if the rich leave, you can pay their share then. Good luck with that.
Also, conservatives by far give more to charities than liberals (look it up if you don't believe me). So, its nice to live in make believe land.
I pay enough and so does everybody else. Enough with the taxes already. Here's a thought, Gov. Paterson: spend less.
eat the rich