Buffalo News
12/4/11
Deidre Williams
http://www.buffalonews.com/city/communities/east-side/article659378.ece
Volunteers from Citizen Action of New York went door to door Saturday in the Masten District to encourage neighbors to support an extension of the state’s millionaires’ tax, a surcharge on people making more than $1 million annually.
The tax is set to expire Dec. 31.
Canvassers from across the state went to neighborhoods in Buffalo and Niagara Falls as well as in Saratoga Springs, Troy, Syracuse, Yonkers, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, New York and Long Island. About 30 people worked the Masten Avenue neighborhood asking residents to sign a pledge card that read “I am a 99%er.”
The collected postcards will be sent directly to State Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-Buffalo, to encourage him to support the extension of the tax.
“This is about reaching out and connecting and letting people know we’re standing up for them,” said Dustin Reidy, statewide canvas director for Citizen Action of New York.
Volunteers also talked to residents about how extending the additional income tax surcharge on the state’s highest earners could prevent more drastic budgets cuts and create opportunities to invest in job creation and infrastructure in the state. And they urged neighbors to contact their local lawmakers.
“This is very important for many reasons. We don’t want the millionaires’ tax to expire at the end of the year,” said Ros Hampton, a board member of Citizen Action of New York.
More action from the group is planned for the upcoming weeks, Reidy said. Within the next two weeks, lawn signs will be distributed around the neighborhood with the message. And on Dec. 19, the group will sing Christmas carols in front of the homes of wealthy Buffalonians.
