Name: Ralph Nader: Cuomo needs to tax wealthy instead of cutting vital services
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Ralph Nader: Cuomo needs to tax wealthy instead of cutting vital services

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You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisRalph Nader: Cuomo needs to tax wealthy instead of cutting vital servicesShare thisALBANY – Consumer advocate Ralph Nader first tried to convince Andrew Cuomo to end a special state rebate on taxes paid by wealthy individuals and hedge funds on stock trades back in December 2010 – a couple of days before Cuomo first took office as governor and at a time when the state faced a $10 billion deficit.On Friday, with the state now looking at a more than $13 billion deficit and deep spending cuts to vital services, Nader urged Cuomo to again look at the stock transfer tax break that he says is an unfair windfall to wealthy Wall Street players.“It’s coronavirus time and all greed should be put on hold," Nader said in an interview with The Buffalo News on Friday.Nader, the longtime consumer and environmental activist and former presidential candidate, said New York for nearly 75 years taxed the transfers of stocks. In 1981, however, the state began offering tax rebates on those stock trade taxes, which Nader and his supporters say has benefited mostly wealthy investors.Legislation has been introduced in both state legislative houses to end the rebates as a way, sponsors say, to raise $13 billion annually.Cuomo rejected broad-based tax hikes or tax increases targeting wealthy New Yorkers in the budget that was put together for the fiscal year that began April 1. Since then, though, the state’s economy has been in a free fall, and tax receipts are plunging from the effects of the Covid pandemic that has halted much of the state’s economy and put millions of Americans out of work.The governor say he will have to cut more than $8 billion in various aid programs for localities, including schools, counties and nonprofits that carry out an array of services on behalf of the state. He said the cuts will be necessary unless Washington provides a direct bailout for states and local governments; he has said New York should get that federal aid before it considers raising new taxes, as a number of Democrats in both houses are demanding. Cuomo has also raised concerns about wealthy New Yorkers fleeing the state if tax hikes are specifically targeted at them.Nader wrote Cuomo Friday saying that he should not find the stock transfer tax “so easy to dismiss” as in the past given the dire alternatives that will cut major vital services across the state.“With hundreds of thousands of essential workers risking their safety and health daily, who you have repeatedly honored, how can you allow zero sacrifices on these higher income traders comfortably making money from money?" Nader wrote Cuomo Friday.In an interview, Nader said Cuomo needs to act on the stock transfer tax idea soon. “He’s long been deferential to Wall Street. He doesn’t want to tax the super-wealthy as some Democrats are demanding," Nader said.But now, Nader added, the state is facing stark fiscal choices that wind up gutting programs that lower-income and middle-income New Yorkers rely upon. Schools across New York have said the cuts Cuomo is eyeing to make sometime later this month could force thousands of layoffs of teachers and other school staffers that, in turn, would result in larger class sizes and a slew of reduced academic programs for students.Nader noted that Cuomo did not take his advice on the stock transfer tax when he first offered it back in late 2010 when the state was still awash in red ink from the Great Recession. “This time, he’s in a bind," Nader said of Cuomo and his decision on whether to push for deep spending cuts or raises taxes on more wealthy New Yorkers.The smart way to start your day. We sift through all the news to give you a concise, informative look at the top headlines and must-read stories every weekday.{{title}}{{summary}}You don't have any notifications.Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.Topics

You have permission to edit this article.© 2022 Lee EnterprisesShare ThisRalph Nader: Cuomo needs to tax wealthy instead of cutting vital servicesShare thisALBANY – Consumer advocate Ralph Nader first tried to convince Andrew Cuomo to end a special state rebate on taxes paid by wealthy individuals and hedge funds on stock trades back in December 2010 – a couple of days before Cuomo first took office as governor and at a time when the state faced a $10 billion deficit.On Friday, with the state now looking at a more than $13 billion deficit and deep spending cuts to vital services, Nader...

Ralph Nader: Cuomo needs to tax wealthy instead of cutting vital services

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