The Problem

On December 16th, 2008, Governor Paterson released his 2009-2010 state budget proposal. The Governor chose not to share the burden of our hard economic times with the wealthiest New Yorkers by raising their income tax by a small amount. Instead, he is trying to balance the budget on the backs of working families, children, and the most vulnerable New Yorkers.

With our economy in shambles, now is not the time to cut programs that the poor, people of color, and the middle class depend on.

The problem: since 1994, tax cuts have have reduced New York's revenue stream by over $16 billion. In fact, New York's personal income tax rate for those with the highest incomes has dropped from 15.375% in 1976 to 6.85% in 2006.

All of this has happened while those New Yorkers with the highest incomes have also had the largest increases in income: since 2003, New Yorkers earning under $200k had a 15.7% income growth; New Yorkers earning over $200k had income growth of 108.6%!

Click here to learn more about protecting essential government programs.