AOC calls on Cuomo to hike taxes on NY billionaires: ‘It’s time to tax the rich’

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AOC urges Cuomo to pass tax on billionaires in New York

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., is calling on Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hike taxes on billionaires in response to the coronavirus crisis, saying they have benefited financially from the crisis while working-class Americans have suffered.

“Any budget that’s balanced on working people’s backs is a budget that will make inequality worse,” she tweeted this week. “Everyday families are going hungry. It’s time to tax the rich.”

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The left-wing freshman congresswoman is calling on Cuomo to back legislation in the state legislature that would increase taxes on billionaires in the already high-tax state.

It comes as part of a debate throughout the country about how to stimulate the economy in the wake of the financial crisis caused by the lockdowns, and also how to make up deficits caused by the economic slowdown and aid packages to help those affected.

“We need to ask Gov. Cuomo to tax the people who are benefiting from this pandemic in order to support the working families who are facing housing insecurity, food insecurity and more,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a video by Make the Road.

According to The New York Times, the main bill by progressives is one by state Sen. Jessica Ramos, which would tax the unrealized capital gains of the state’s billionaires. It would then be redirected to workers via a worker bailout fund, for those who aren’t eligible for unemployment insurance and other assistance -- including illegal immigrants.

Another bill being considered would introduce a new “ultra-millionaires” tax.

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Ocasio-Cortez points to reports that, while many ordinary Americans are hurting because of the crisis, billionaires have seen their personal fortunes increase dramatically. And with New York a top destination for many of the richest Americans, she argues New York needs to take action and if Trump cuts billionaires’ taxes, New York should “pick them up.”

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But Cuomo has already poured cold water on the progressive congresswoman’s call, saying that a tax hike should come from the federal government, or else billionaires will simply flee to a neighboring state.

“If they want a tax increase, don’t make New York alone do a tax increase and just have the people move to Connecticut,” Cuomo said on a call with reporters, according to the New York Daily News. “If you take people who are highly mobile and you tax them, then they’ll just move next door where the tax treatment is simpler. It has to be done on a federal level.”