Community Groups, Labor Launch Campaign To Stop Huge State Tax Break For Millionaires

October 20, 2011

1199SEIU members in New York City, Albany, Rochester and Buffalo were among the community groups and labor unions that held media events this week to launch a renewed campaign to stop New York State’s planned tax break for millionaires. The organizations, under the banner of 99 New York, called on elected officials to do the right thing and stop the $5 billion tax break that the wealthiest New Yorkers will receive if the supplemental tax rates on the wealthiest New Yorkers are allowed to expire as planned on December 31.



On Monday, a new poll by Siena Research Institute found that 72 percent of New Yorkers favor a surcharge on residents making more than $1 million a year. The idea was backed by a majority of voters across partisan, geographic, gender, age and religious backgrounds.



The broad-based coalition opposed to the tax break includes 1199SEIU, SEIU32BJ, DC37, UFT, NYSUT, TWU, CWA, Coalition for the Homeless, Alliance for Quality Education, Make The Road NY, Citizen Action of NY, UnitedNY, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, the Working Families Party, New York Communities for Change, Community Voices Heard, Fiscal Policy Institute, Center for Working Families, New York State AFL-CIO, NYC CLC, NYC Coalition for Educational Justice, NYC Parents Union, Human Services Council, and GrowingTogetherNY.



"The current economic and employment crisis has working families struggling to survive and care for their families,” said 1199SEIU President George Gresham.”Each day more New Yorkers are losing their jobs, their healthcare benefits, and their homes. Now is not the time to allow a tax break for the wealthy while 1 in 5 New Yorkers lives in poverty. We urge elected leaders in Albany to take a stand for the 99 percent and stop this $5 billion tax giveaway."

Ronieka Burns, a Patient Care Technician and 1199SEIU Delegate at Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester participated in an event sponsored by "We Are One-Rochester Network”. At a press conference at the Liberty Pole in downtown Rochester, Burns said, “For far too long New York State has tried to balance its budget on the backs of the middle and working class. With a gross overemphasis on budget cuts, and little attention being paid to increasing revenues, we’re seeing deep cuts to vital public services like health care and public education. Working in the hospital everyday I see how this directly affects the lives of already vulnerable members of our society. It is entirely unjust to force this level of sacrifice on regular people while New York's wealthiest residents continue to hoard immense amounts of wealth.”

Since the tax breaks won’t take place until the end of the year, because the surcharge doesn’t’ expire until then, the coalition will fight to stop the tax cuts in the upcoming weeks and urge officials to instead use the money to create jobs and restore the worse of the budget cuts.

“The reality is that if anyone in this state needs a tax cut it is not millionaires and billionaires, it is struggling working class families that are the backbone of our economy,” said Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness and coordinator of GrowingTogetherNY Coalition.” Now is the time for our elected officials to stand up and join our fight to protect the hardworking men and women of this state. With unemployment still sky high, 99 percent of New Yorkers should not have to bear the burden of massive tax break for millionaires and billionaires.”