During a virtual press conference Thursday, elected members and advocates made the same point several different ways: the wealthy must pay their fair share to help alleviate the current economic crisis brought on by the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • State lawmakers want the wealthiest pay more to offset economic losses due to coronavirus

  • There is discussion in both houses about convening this month to raise taxes on the wealthy

  • Governor Cuomo says he is open to raising taxes, although not until aid package from Washington comes through

“It is our utmost responsibility to carry out the will of the people, and the will of the people is to raise revenue,” said Alessandra Biaggi, a Democratic State Senate representing the Bronx. “In fact, a large majority of New Yorkers are not only demanding, they are pleading with us to do the right thing.”

With unemployment hovering near 20%, growing food lines, and tenants not knowing whether they can pay next month’s rent, let alone the back rent they may owe, there is much anxiety in the air along with the coronavirus.

On top of that, the state is in a multi-billion dollar budget hole, making money for all those who need it that much more scarce.

Governor Andrew Cuomo has been urging a wait-and-see approach, especially after Joe Biden got elected, hoping a federal aid package from Washington could be forthcoming.

“If Washington gives us some of it, then we are going to redo a budget,” the governor said. “We are going to have to raise taxes. I believe we are going to have to raise taxes at the end of the day in any event. But the question is how much in taxes.”

This week, Assembly Democrats met in a closed-door conference, and discussed whether or not to come back before the end of the year to raise taxes. Senate Democrats are having the same conversation.

“There is a lot of rhetoric coming from the executive’s office, coming from the governor’s office about waiting for federal dollars,” said Jessica Ramos, a Democratic State Senator representing Queens. “Well, we have to wait, we have to wait, we have to wait. People are starving. We cannot wait. The governor needs to tax the rich yesterday. That’s what needs to happen in order to have food on the table. We are waiting for him to take action. We are ready to go back to work.”

But the truth is, members of the legislature can come back and raise taxes tomorrow if they want. Or if they are willing to wait until early January, they will have supermajorities in both houses, and can override any threatened veto from the governor.

There are a lot of ideas about how to target the wealthy with taxes, but insiders say the easiest way to do it is to simply manipulate the current brackets on the wealthy, which would have them pay a higher personal income tax.