New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state should still raise taxes on the wealthy even after the federal government agreed to send an additional $12.5 billion in aid to help New York climb out of its deficit.
“Don’t get me wrong, the $12.5 billion is very, very helpful,” Cuomo said during a Sunday news conference. “But as you know, because I said it 150 times, we needed $15 billion in my opinion. So, we do have a gap there.”
State lawmakers will determine whether to raise taxes when they pass a budget. New York state’s budget year starts April 1, and a budget must be approved by then.
Cuomo admitted that tax increases come with a risk, especially as so many high-income earners continue to flee New York City and the rest of the state.
“You can raise revenue in ways that actually costs the state revenue, right?” he said.
“So there’s going to be discussion about taxes,” he added. “There’s also going to be a discussion about a cliff.”
Cuomo previously threatened to raise his state’s income tax rates significantly if the Biden administration didn’t provide enough coronavirus aid.
He also warned he would cut funding for education, Medicaid, local governments and social services, and said the federal government—not his administration—is to blame for New York’s catastrophic handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“What happened to New York was no fault of New Yorkers,” Cuomo said in his annual budget address this week. “It was because the federal government lost track of coronavirus, literally.”
Republicans opposed the idea that the federal government should bankroll New York’s fiscal mismanagement, but the Biden administration helped congressional Democrats push the funding through its latest relief package.
“It’s irresponsible and reckless to take money from American taxpayers and use it to save liberal politicians like Cuomo from the consequences of their poor choices,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said last year.
