FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 9, 2024
CONTACT: Jack Lynch, iony@berlinrosen.com
Just days into the legislative session and facing a projected budget deficit, Governor Hochul used her State of the State address to advance policies that will benefit corporate interests and the wealthy few. In response, Invest in Our New York released the following statement:
“Despite the Governor admitting that taxes do not contribute to outmigration, she refuses to consider ensuring that the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share to raise much-needed public funds in 2024. Her refusal is completely tone-deaf to the needs of middle-class, working-class, and low-income New Yorkers. The governor’s constituents overwhelmingly support a tax system that makes millionaires, billionaires, and profitable corporations pay what they owe. According to a December Siena poll, 74% of New Yorkers agree that we should increase taxes on highly profitable corporations and the wealthiest New Yorkers in order to fund public programs.
“Instead of listening to the majority of New Yorkers, the governor seems content to maintain the status quo in which the ultra-rich continue to profit hand over fist while working-class people are driven out because they cannot afford to stay in our state.
“We live in the most economically unequal state in the country, where working-class families must choose between paying rent or paying for childcare, while the wealthiest New Yorkers can do both without thinking. For Governor Hochul to not even consider generating new sources of revenue from the ultra-rich is ludicrous. We call on the Governor to reassess her position and heed the calls from her constituents to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires in our state. We urge Speaker Heastie and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins to stand with working-class New Yorkers and make sure that the ultra-wealthy and highly profitable corporations pay their fair share in 2024 so we can invest in our New York.”
Statements from our Invest in Our New York Steering Committee
"While New York continues to mint new millionaires and billionaires, working people are leaving our state in search of a lower cost of living. It's essential that Governor Hochul and our State Legislature level the playing field for working people by raising taxes on profitable corporations and the ultra wealthy and investing in child care, public education, and deeply affordable housing," said Ana María Archila, Co-Director of the New York Working Families Party.
“Every day, New Yorkers work hard so our families can thrive. While middle-class, working-class, and low-income New Yorkers are paying their fair share in taxes, billionaires and corporations in New York State benefit from a system that never taxes a majority of their wealth,” said Juanita O. Lewis, Executive Director of Community Voices Heard. “Every year, New York State loses billions of dollars of public money that could be uplifting our communities. When the ultra-rich don’t pay their fair share, our communities cannot invest meaningfully in housing, economic justice, and childcare. The Governor’s plan will particularly harm Black and brown New Yorkers who already face historic disinvestment. As the largest Black-led organizing institution in New York State, we urge the Governor, Speaker Heastie, and Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins to invest in New Yorkers this legislative session.”
“This election year will be an uphill battle as long as politicians like Governor Hochul continue to deny working-class New Yorkers what they are asking for. They aren't asking her to “hold the line”—In poll after poll, New Yorkers make it clear they want to tax the rich to fund large-scale investments in affordability that they can really feel — not just something that looks good in a press release. Governor Hochul finally admitted taxes aren't what's causing New Yorkers to leave. It’s a failure of our elected officials to do enough. This year is her opportunity to get it done. Pass the popular policies that tax the rich and invest it in making life easier for working people of our state,” said Charles Khan, Deputy Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition.
"Big corporations and their billionaire CEOs are getting richer and richer off of our work, our housing, our health, and our schools, leaving too many New Yorkers struggling," said Rebecca Garrard, Deputy Executive Director of Campaigns and Movement Politics at Citizen Action of New York. "New York must create a progressive tax structure that can sustain our state and working families by making the ultra-wealthy pay what they owe to the public they profit from. Without it, Governor Hochul will fail to provide the vision and pathway for New York families to thrive."
Jose Lopez, Co-Executive Director of Make the Road New York, said, “Governor Hochul's speech only paid lip service in addressing New York’s affordability and out-of-control housing crisis while failing to offer the solutions New Yorkers need, including tenant protections and funding to keep people in their homes and finally making billionaires pay what they owe in taxes to invest in communities. It’s deeply disappointing that the Governor continues to fail to offer transformative policies for which working families across the state have been calling. While we demand the freedom to stay in our homes and freedom to thrive in our state, she continues to prioritize handouts to billionaires and real estate tycoons."
“Today’s State of the State has made clear who Governor Kathy Hochul is truly working for: the millionaires, billionaires, and corporations who line her campaign coffers,” said Alicé Nascimento, Campaigns Director NYCC. “Governor Hochul would rather protect her rich donors than do what a majority of New Yorkers support— taxes on the ultra-rich to fund the housing, education, childcare, healthcare, and climate justice initiatives that our communities deserve for a livable New York.
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