Check out this Op-Ed in today’s Buffalo News written by our very own Ellen Kennedy (Citizen Action board president), and Sam Williams, co-chair of WFP. They discuss our huge organizational success this year: winning Fair Share Tax Reform for New York!
http://www.buffalonews.com/149/story/683931.html
It is understandable that the public’s initial response to the recently passed New York State budget was a negative one. Media reports stressed unfair taxes and fees and bemoaned the failure to cut state spending.
A closer look, however, reveals that the budget is a reasonable response to a dire situation. It’s not a perfect budget — far from it — but there are key positives that have prevented more serious cuts in essential education, health and social services. Rather than vilify Sens. William Stachowski and Antoine Thompson, we should thank them for protecting the residents of economically depressed Western New York.
First and foremost, they deserve thanks for passing the Fair Share Tax Reform, which was aggressively advocated by the Working Families Party and Citizen Action of New York, along with other groups in the Fair Share Tax Coalition. By raising the income tax rate on the wealthiest New Yorkers (families earning more than $300,000 per year), more than $4 billion will be raised.
Statewide, this tax increase affects only 3.5 percent of the taxpayers, and an even smaller percentage in Western New York. New York’s highest tax rate is now comparable to that of New Jersey. Progressive income taxes are much fairer than sales taxes and fees, which impact lower income families to a greater degree. Without this tax revenue, Western New Yorkers would be burdened with higher property taxes in order to support necessary health and education services.
School districts will be spared major cuts or increased school taxes. Advantage After-School Programs will receive increased funding in order to expand the provision of after-school programs, which will benefit thousands of youth throughout New York State.
Although there are cuts in health care that will hurt hospitals, the budget included authorization to expand Family Health Plus, removed a proposed premium increase on the Medicaid buy-in for working people with disabilities and reformed the process to enroll in public health insurance programs.
The Working Families Party and Citizen Action of New York would like to thank all the Western New York legislators who were courageous enough to vote for the Fair Share Tax Reform, particularly Stachowski and Thompson, who have taken the greatest heat.
We urge them to tackle other reforms in the months ahead. Legislation governing industrial development agencies needs to ensure that our tax dollars will be used to create living-wage jobs. A system of public financing of elections needs to be established to reduce the influence of money in elections. Also, a thorough examination of state public authorities should be undertaken to assess the need for their continued existence, and if so, to establish a strong mechanism to make them accountable to the taxpayer.
Sam Williams is co-chairman of theWorking Families Party. Ellen Kennedy isboard president of Citizen Action of NewYork.