New Yorkers Sharing in the Solution - Statement

As upper-income New Yorkers who treasure the quality of life in our state, we believe that Governor Paterson's proposed drastic cuts to education, health care and other vital human services, coupled with a long list of tax and fee increases that negatively impact working families, are an irresponsible and unnecessary response to the current budget crisis.

Instead, we call for a balanced solution that includes an increase in income taxes on those who can afford it - which means us - as well as targeted, responsible cuts in spending.

New York faced a similarly daunting deficit in 2003. Then as State Senator, Paterson voted with his colleagues to increase the top rates of the Personal Income Tax (over Governor Pataki's veto) to help address the state's fiscal woes. The dire consequences predicted by Governor Pataki and others at the time did not materialize. New York's economy rebounded, the rich got richer, and tax rates were lowered again. We should employ a similar solution to the current crisis and expect the same results.

While cuts may indeed be inevitable, they must be balanced with fair and progressive revenues. As Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, the chair of Governor Paterson's panel of economic advisors, wrote in a letter to legislative leaders and the Governor, “Increases on higher-income families are the least damaging mechanism for closing state fiscal deficits in the short run. Reductions in government spending on goods and services, or reductions in transfer payment to lower-income families, are likely to be more damaging to the economy in the short run than tax increases focused on higher-income families.”

Those of us who have incomes of $200,000 and above can certainly afford an increase in our income tax of one to three percentage points - especially considering the substantial cuts in the top New York State tax rates that we have enjoyed over the last twenty years.

In this way, we can and should avoid severe cuts to our great state's services and continue to invest in our people and our communities. As upper-income New York State taxpayers, we are willing and able to share in the solution to our state's budget crisis.