Well, if Public Advocate Bill de Blasio wanted to get the 2013 election ball rolling when he announced his plans to tax the rich to feed the poor fund free pre-K for all, it sure worked. Not only did his plan get a classic soundbite out of our billionaire mayor from Boston ("it's about as dumb a policy as I can think of") but all the other potential candidates have had to talk about the idea. And oh, a biggie up in Albany is chatting about it, too!
"People who can afford more money should pay more money," Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who has other concerns right now, said at a rally today. "We did that in the state while reducing taxes for the middle class. There’s no reason the city shouldn’t do the same thing if the revenue is necessary. I am not opposed to that at all as long as you make the tax code fairer across the board."
Silver isn't the only politician to support the idea of raising taxes on the rich. While de Blasio wants to raise the rate for everyone making more than $500,000 a year, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and City Comptroller John Liu have both expressed intrest in raising the taxes of those who earn more than $1 million.
But not all the candidates agree. Frontrunner, Bloomberg buddy and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and former Public Advocate Bill Thompson both no longer support plans to raise taxes on the wealthy that they pushed in 2009. So who to believe? We still like to think the Mayor Bloomberg of 2008 had it right when he said: "I can only tell you, among my friends, I've never heard one person say I'm going to move out of the city because of the taxes. Not one. Not in all the years I've lived here."
