Comptroller Brad Lander Calls for Tax Hikes for NYC High Income Residents
By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander has been echoing the progressive tax-the-rich mantra.
As reported by the NY Post, the Comptroller’s Office published a report last week, proposing plans to raise $1 billion a year in revenue for the city, in order to offset rising expenditures, which include the costs of housing and education for the illegal migrants arrived en mass from the Southern borders. Lander’s solutions included hiking up personal income tax for the top 1% of the city’s earners and by imposing a surcharge on pied-à-terre or second homes. The report also suggested getting rid of the no-tax deal offered to Madison Square Garden, which exempts it from taxation when the venue is hosting pro hockey and basketball games.
The comptroller says in the report that the new revenues ideas will be vital in order to keep the future budget out of the red. “A serious, long-term savings plan to address out-year budget gaps must be a part of that plan, but if the city is going to expand services to address concerns about affordability, and make new investments in shared economic thriving to address post-pandemic conditions, new revenues will be needed,” the report says. Lander estimated last week that NYC will spend about $4 billion by June 2024 to tackle the migrant crisis, raising the previous estimate by roughly $1 billion, per the Post.
On Friday, NYC Mayor Eric Adams shot down Lander’s proposal for “new revenues,” by raising taxes for top earners. “If we are going to say, ‘Let’s just raise taxes on New Yorkers,’ if that’s the answer to our problem, I just don’t agree with that,” Adams said, commenting on the comptroller’s report. TheMayor too has acknowledged that the budget will need extra help to be balanced, and so he has been proposing budget cuts to cut expenditures across city agencies. Adams said that he doesn’t believe tax hikes are a viable solution for the influx of migrants overwhelming the Big Apple. “This is not a sustainable method to address this problem, so we just can’t say, ‘We are going to tax our way out of it by hitting New Yorkers with additional taxes,’” said Hizzoner. “We need to get the help from national government, as I’ve been saying for some time now.”
Other City Council members also criticized the comptroller’s eyebrow raising report, and supported the Mayor’s rebuttal. “The mayor has made a priority of trimming the fat, we shouldn’t be buttering up our bacon instead,” Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) said of the proposed hikes. “There’s no tax increase in the world that the comptroller wouldn’t support,” said Councilman Bob Holden (D-Queens). “It’s out-of-touch progressives, like Lander, that are causing taxpayers to flee the city for greener pastures, and the fact that he continues to push for more taxes for an already overbloated budget comes as no surprise,” Holden added.
State Assembly Minority Leader Will Barclay (R-Pulaski) also chimed in, accusing the comptroller of wanting to make NY’s already “oppressive” tax climate even worse. “‘Raising revenue’ is simply Democratic-speak for more taxes. And whether it’s a new tax on commuters, on MTA users or on high earners, they do nothing to improve the affordability crisis here,” Barclay said.
