WHITE PLAINS – Constituents, advocates and educators urged the state to support the Invest in Our New York Act in the state’s 2021-22 budget. The act would effectively tax super wealthy New Yorkers to make up for social service deficits resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tuesday evening, during a session with Westchester County’s State Senate delegation on the spending plan, advocates for the bill shared their solidarity and concerns if these tax increases for the richest New Yorkers are not to be included in the budget.
Ray Lipstein, a Westchester constituent, claimed following a phone banking initiative, those involved discovered that approximately 90 percent of New Yorkers surveyed were in support of passing the tax increases.
“They support taxing the wealthy to prevent social cuts- cuts to social services like the kinds Cuomo has proposed, the kinds that he has either quietly, or publicly enacted. We’ve heard, I’ve heard, you’ve heard from some of the victims of those cuts today and on Thursday. I don’t think that Governor Cuomo is going to be getting any applause at any press conferences for them, unless he’s speaking to an audience of COVID billionaires,” said Lipstein.
One of the angles many advocates of these cuts highlighted is the ability of the tax increases to help heal a severely wounded public school budget. Educators spoke of lack of psychological services for public school students, unfunded mandates and foundation aid issues for schools- those, of which, would be the beneficiaries of this potential revenue.
Amy Perlow of Peekskill’s NAACP said putting these increases in the upcoming budget would prove to constituents that their representatives are committed to making sure all New Yorkers have the services they need to recover from the pandemic.
“Needless to say, the pandemic has profoundly worsened the impacts of this funding shortage…,” said Perlow. “…Our community groups are mighty and people are watching and listening. I urge you to support the Invest in Our New York Act. Now is the time to tax the rich, fund our schools and support students, not billionaires,” she said.
Other reoccurring concerns voiced by participants in Tuesday’s forum were in league with the tax increases. Concern over fair pay for home health workers, investment in after school programs, additional funding for nursing homes and elimination of government subsidies for fossil fuel companies could potentially benefit from the additional revenue.
NYS Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D, Yonkers) said this is a particularly difficult budget season for both elected and constituents.
“It’s all been tough, but I think that’s part of what makes this so rewarding because we know that it’s tough on all of us, but it’s really tough on our constituents as well,” said Stewart-Cousins.
Stewart-Cousins urged constituents to remain engaged during this budget season and to provide comment to the Assembly, even if they had already testified to the Senate. The Westchester Senate delegation will be continuing to receive written comments.
The deadline for the state budget is April 1, 2021.
