ALBANY — A day after Gov. Cuomo threw cold water on his plan to raise taxes on the wealthy, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie went on a Twitter binge to argue why it’s a good idea.
In an apparent shot at Cuomo’s statement that there is no “appetite” this year to hike taxes, Heastie tweeted that “NYers are hungry for a system that puts the working poor and middle class ahead of millionaires.”
CUOMO QUASHES ASSEMBLY DEMOCRAT PLAN TO RAISE TAXES ON WEALTHY
Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi shot back by referencing Heastie’s disgraced predecessor, Sheldon Silver. “What the public is hungry for, post Shelly Silver, is ethics reform,” he said in calling on the Assembly to pass Cuomo’s ethics reform plan, including a plan to allow for the stripping of a convicted public official’s pension that the Assembly Dems agreed to last year “and promptly reneged on.”
In response to Azzopardi, Heastie spokesman Michael Whyland tweeted out that “it’s a shame that @NYGovCuomo is throwing a tantrum about the Assembly’s tax plan.”
Cuomo and Senate GOP Leader John Flanagan have both pooh-poohed the idea of raising taxes this year.
Under the Assembly Democrat plan, anyone earning between $1 million and $5 million would be subjected to a state income tax rate of 8.82%. Those making between $5 million and $10 million a year would pay 9.32% while income above $10 million would be taxed at a 9.82% rate.
Heastie began his twitter spree Tuesday with a two-part message that income inequality “remains a major problem in NY. However, since our 2011 tax reform, number of millionaires in NY has GROWN!”
He then unleashed a series of tweets he dubbed “fun facts” that showed how the number of millionaires, including those making more than $10 million a year, has increased since tax reforms were enacted in 2011 despite critics saying tax hikes would cause the wealthy to flee the state.
Heastie wrote how “average incomes of the top 1% have grown so much faster than incomes for other New Yorkers” and how the “number of New Yorkers earning between $1 Million & $10 Million annually has grown by 6.2% in five years!”
He cited statistics that since New York enacted tax reforms in 2011, the number of millionaires in the state grew to 57,724, up from 55,529. Heastie also tweeted that the number of New Yorkers earning more than $10 million a year grew by 697, or 6.3%, in 2015 from 2,650 five years prior.
“Fun Fact: Those 2,650 super high earners make a COMBINED $85 billion. Income that has GROWN 7.4% since 2010 #notfleeingNY #fairshare,” he tweeted.
The Assembly plan, he said, would generate $1 billion in additional revenue.
“NYers are hungry. Hungry for more school aid. Hungry for child care & after-school programs. Hungry for safe roads, sewer and water system,” he tweeted.
He finished by saying that the “One percent” need to pay their fair share.
