Letter to the Editor: State lawmakers need to help workers, tax the rich

Dear Editor,

Our Assemblymembers and State Senators need to support a worker bailout fund for New Yorkers who have been excluded from federal and state aid during the pandemic. We can pay for this by taxing billionaires.

I’m one of over 1 million workers who has been left out from Unemployment and Stimulus Payments. I’m an interior painter. But people are scared of COVID so they don’t want people in their homes. Work isn’t there but the bills keep coming. I send money to my mother. For now, I still have some money in the bank. But I don’t know what I will do if the money runs out. If I don’t find work in 3 months, I don’t know what will happen.

Billionaires have gotten $565 billion richer during COVID. They need to support the workers who keep our economy going by paying their fair share. The worker bailout fund (S.8277/A.01041) is already supported by over 60 state legislators. It’s time for the rest of them to get behind it.

I’m a member of Nobody Leaves Mid-Hudson, and we and the hundreds of other organizations that support the worker bailout fund will keep fighting until we get it.