Dear Friend:

Over the weekend, a battle that we all have been fighting for the past five months was won. State leaders in Albany came to an agreement to enact a personal income tax increase for the wealthiest New Yorkers that will raise an additional $4 billion in sorely needed state funds.

This additional money will allow many of the initially proposed cuts - cuts to health care, programs for low-income people, and services for working families that would have caused tens of thousands of layoffs and devastating, unnecessary suffering - to be averted. And it will make our tax system fairer.

Unfortunately, the budget delays the Campaign for Fiscal Equity settlement, providing zero dollars over the next two years in court ordered school aid. The small amount of money added for schools is distributed based on politics rather than a fair formula. The federal stimulus package helped make up a lot of the initially proposed cuts to education funding. But, that money was a one-time deal. The state cannot continue to put off its constitutional obligation to fully and fairly fund our kids’ education.

The two new tax brackets, for those earning over $300k and $500k respectively, combined with winning substantial reform to the Rockefeller Drug Laws, expansion of the Bottle Bill, a $5 million increase to Advantage funding for after-school programs, and the potential expansion of Family Health Plus coverage to 400,000 more New Yorkers, all represent a marked shift in the way state government is operating and the incredible power of our grassroots movement.

The hard work of millions of New Yorkers and Americans last year to bring the opportunity for progressive change in our society, and the persistent demand for that opportunity to become reality since, has provided us with our first tangible success: proof that every rally we attend, every phone call we make, every email we send, and every door we knock on does help build a better government and a better society.

As always, when one battle is complete, another is heating up. With the legislature in session for almost three more months, we’ll be working to win Clean Elections this year. Very soon I’ll be in contact about how you can help start our major push for full public financing of campaigns in New York!

Your hard work truly paid off during this very long budget season. We all should be very proud of the campaigns we’ve waged and the change we’ve won. Our battles aren’t over just yet, but we know that going forward, we’ll be fighting in a better, stronger, more just New York.

Thank you,

Karen Scharff
Executive Director
Citizen Action of New York

Cross-posted here.

Unshackle Upstate’s Brian Sampson is making the news circuit these last few weeks with the message that Fair Share Tax Reform would cause small businesses to fire workers (the Fair Share Tax Reform is making progress in Albany with bills that would create new NYS marginal tax brackets starting at $250,000). He says that 75% of small business owners pay taxes through personal income tax.

Ok, sounds like a reasonable concern, right?

Meanwhile, back in the reality-based community According to James Parrott, of the Fiscal Policy Institute, “only 1.4% of tax units with small business income were in the top two federal tax brackets, i.e., over $250K.” The VAST majority of small business owners don’t make that kind of money and therefore would never be subject to the Fair Share tax.

And let’s think about Unshackle Upstate’s logic for a minute. Imagine you are one of the rare group of small business owners netting over $250,000. The new Fair Share Tax Reform tax bracket costs you about $70 a week extra. Are you going to fire a worker to recoup that seventy bucks?

The good news is that Sampson’s disingenuous media forays are the last gasps of a sinking trickle down theory. Wanna see a New Yorker laugh in your face? Tell them that tax breaks for the rich create jobs.

March 19, 2009

Click here for the full article.

Taxes Not Seen as Making the Rich Flee New York

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE

It is perhaps the most potent argument offered by those who oppose increasing the income tax on wealthy New Yorkers: If you raise it, they will flee.

That case has been made repeatedly by Gov. David A. Paterson, who says that higher taxes should be a last resort. It has been featured in a campaign by Taxpayers for an Affordable New York, a coalition of real estate and business interests. And it has been on the mind of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, New York City’s richest person, who said in a radio interview, “You can’t tax too much those that can move.”

Yet there is surprisingly little evidence to support the proposition that rich New Yorkers would bolt if forced to pay higher income taxes. Though tracking the movement of wealthy taxpayers from state to state is difficult, experts on public finance and migration say they have yet to document a substantial “rich drain” in states that have raised income taxes in recent years.

Just now - photo of the human billboard on the steps of the Capitol:

A message from Karen Scharff, Executive Director of Citizen Action of New York:

---

There are only two weeks left before the April 1^st budget deadline. We’ll be asking you to take a number of actions over the next couple weeks to make sure we get a fair budget.

Today’s action: reform the Rockefeller Drugs Laws.

The Rockefeller Drugs Laws are ineffective, racist, wasteful and unjust. With enough pressure on the Governor and the Legislature, we can make significant reforms of these laws this year through the budget process. This is not only good criminal justice policy, but it will also save the state money in the long run.

Click here to send a message to the Governor and the Legislature right now!

Real reform must include four key components:

• Reducing sentences for drug offenses
• Restoring judicial discretion and ending mandatory minimums for drug offenses
• Expanding and funding community-based drug treatment programs
• Delivering retroactive sentencing relief to currently incarcerated Rockefeller prisoners serving unjustly long sentences

After decades, the opportunity to change one of the most draconian, racist, unjust policies in New York is here.

Let’s make a strong push right now for real reform of the Rockefeller Drug Laws.

Click here to send your message now!

And don’t forget to forward this note to your friends and family.

Thanks!

Karen Scharff
Executive Director
Citizen Action of New York

Check out the today's New York Times article below that says the Senate has accepted the necessity to increase income taxes on New York's wealthiest.

March 16, 2009

Senate Is Said to Seek More in Income Tax From Wealthy

By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and DANNY HAKIM

Click here for original article.

ALBANY — Democratic leaders in the State Senate will seek income tax increases on at least some affluent New Yorkers and a sales tax increase of a quarter of 1 percent to help balance the state budget, a Senate official with knowledge of the plans said in an interview over the weekend.

“The hole is too deep to dig ourselves out by cuts alone,” said the Senate official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the details of the proposal were still being hammered out. “The debate now is over where to start.”

The move by Senate Democrats, who have a slim majority, will significantly increase pressure on Gov. David A. Paterson, who has said he would consider raising income taxes only as a last resort and only after the Legislature had agreed to steep cuts in state spending.

Pictured above is Sarah at the Governor's Town Hall Meeting in Rochester on Wednesday afternoon.

Click here to download (PDF) today's testimony on Fair Share Tax Reform delivered by Jessica Wisneski, Citizen Action's Legislative Director, and Bob Cohen, Policy Director, to Senator Liz Kreuger's hearing of the State Senate Select Committee on Budget and Tax Reform on progressive taxation.

The State Senate will come to an agreement very soon on their budget proposal. It's critical that Fair Share Tax Reform is part of it.

Click here to send a message to your State Senator right now!

Click here for bookmarks to all the coverage of yesterday's rallies across the state.