August 2, 2020 by

Cuomo Talks Tax Increase as New York Faces Major Budget Deficit

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

By: Reporter Staff

Governor Andrew Cuomo said this past week that his administration is anticipating a $13 billion drop in revenue through next April and a possible $61 billion budget hole over the next four years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Apart from asking the federal government for assistance, Governor Cuomo’s administration has come up with few ideas how to address it.

One idea floated by progressives has been to increase taxes on the “ultra wealthy” such as millionaires and billionaires. Another idea has been a blanket tax increase across all socio-economic levels.

Governor Cuomo has remained steadfast in his opposition to tax increases on the wealthy, stating in a conference call on Wednesday, July 29th, “you have 100 billionaires [in New York]. You will have to tax every billionaire half a billion dollars to make it up. You know what that means? That means you have no billionaires.”

Currently, the State has reduced spending by $4 billion in April, May, and June through freezing state worker’s pay raises, halting hiring, and terminating new contracts. The State has also started withholding 20% of payments to local governments.