A 'People's Budget' for billionaires

Daily Point

‘Soak the rich’ still afloat in Albany

Despite Gov. Kathy Hochul’s introduction of a spending plan awash in revenues, with no deficits in sight, the NYS Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Legislative Caucus on Tuesday prepared to propose tens of billions of dollars in new tax hikes on the top tier of New York’s wealthy.

According to a draft of the position paper obtained by The Point circulating among caucus members, chairwoman Michaelle Solages (D-Elmont) states: "It is imperative that New York State establishes a tax framework that addresses generations of wealth disparities that have kept communities of color locked out of the American Dream.

"New York is the financial center of the nation and with that title comes the responsibility to lead by example," she says in a preface to the "People’s Budget" proposal.

Among the "revenue-raisers" the caucus seeks are: a "billionaire wealth tax" that could bring in $10 billion, increasing inheritance taxes on the top 1% that would raise $8 billion, and a handful of other measures that have kicked around for years from a pied-à-terre tax to a yacht-and-jet tax.

There would also be a new $7 billion "capital gains" tax. As stated in the draft proposal: "The federal government taxes investment income at a much lower rate than the income we make at our jobs; New York can fix this by adding a tax to investment income that’s equal to the tax break the rich are getting from the federal government."

While the fate of this wish list is doubtful at the outset of the annual budget process, the proposals pose a sharp contrast to the much-ballyhooed threat of driving the biggest taxpayers out of New York.

But even in the draft stage, the memo suggests there will be legislative pushback against the no-new-taxes-or-fees goal stated by Hochul and enforced by her budget director, Robert Mujica. However, he did acknowledge in a news conference that taxes previously raised on top earners will stay in place for the time being.

When he was kept in the job by Hochul in October, Mujica drew fire from leftward Democrats who derided him as the author of Hochul predecessor Andrew M. Cuomo’s "corporate friendly" and "austerity" policies.

Hochul, in her recent State of the State address, hinted at her concern over taxes when she called the state’s population drop last year of 300,000 "an alarm bell that cannot be ignored." With revenues above those projected and federal aid abundant, Hochul went into her first budget presentation with a range of choices between restraining spending and expanding on pandemic-time programs — from child care and housing to infrastructure.

Reached in Albany Tuesday, Solages said the proposed changes should be considered as part of long-term planning for future years when there won’t be surpluses. Such projects as improvements for Nassau Community College, for example, should be considered. She refuted warnings that such moves risk an exodus of top taxpayers from the state.

In response to Tuesday’s budget presentation, Andrew Rein, president of the nonpartisan, pro-business Citizens Budget Commission, noted the opportunity to both apply fiscal restraint and expand programs. He was quoted Tuesday as saying that going forward, "The risk is the feeding frenzy, the fiscal cavorting, the fiscal hangover."

In contrast to the Solages-chaired caucus, Conservative Party chairman Gerard Kassar pounded the "taxpayer exodus" theme in the wake of Hochul’s address by saying: "The moving trucks keep arriving. Boy, do we need a change of direction in Albany."

And so a variation of the annual ideological scrimmage is forming — but at a unique moment in state finances.

— Dan Janison @Danjanison

Talking Point

From Sun Tzu to Suozzi

Suffolk Deputy County Executive Jason Elan’s just-announced departure to become communications director for Tom Suozzi’s gubernatorial campaign came with a little present from Elan’s old boss.

At a going-away party last week, Steve Bellone gave Elan a copy of the classic conflict text, Sun Tzu’s "The Art of War."

"You are a fighter in a business that is all about winning," Bellone wrote in part in a note with the book, according to Elan. "For us, winning has always been a means to an end."

The fight was apparent already by Tuesday afternoon, by which time Elan had quickly revved up the Twitter engine to criticize his new boss’ opponent, incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Elan was once Hochul’s press secretary, part of a career in New York political communications that also included working for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and the Independent Democratic Conference before landing with Bellone.

Why leave a job that theoretically could have lasted through Bellone being term-limited in 2023?

"Tom has a real path to winning," Elan told The Point, staying on message.

The Glen Cove Democratic congressman appears to have some ground to cover before June, with Hochul announcing a big lead in campaign fundraising. A new Siena poll of registered Democrats’ primary preferences also shows Hochul with support from 46% of registered Democrats, with Suozzi nabbing only 6%.

Elan explained away the survey numbers by saying that the question was asked of registered Democrats, not likely Democratic voters. He suggested "Suozzi only has room to go up" and Hochul has "capped out" in her support.

One expects it’s this kind of pugnacity Elan will bring from Sun Tzu to Suozzi.

"Battle tested and fiercely competitive, Jason has never been afraid to shy away from a fight worth winning," Suozzi said in a statement.

— Mark Chiusano @mjchiusano

Pencil Point

With friends like these …

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Quick Points

Protection games

• In China, all Olympic athletes, team staff and news media must be vaccinated to enter any Olympic area without going through a 21-day quarantine. In other words, there will be no cases of Novak Djokovic in Beijing.
• Republican insiders say many GOP candidates for 2022 admit privately that the 2020 election was fair but publicly express skepticism to court former President Donald Trump. Oh well, it’s not like hypocrisy has ever been an automatic disqualifier in American politics.
• Democratic strategist James Carville says Democrats should "quit being a whiny party" if they want to win in 2022. Probably true, but for many party electeds and activists being whiny is pretty much in their DNA.
• Former President Donald Trump raised questions about public health expertise while in office and was vaccinated and boosted out of public sight, but now is defending vaccines and boosters and criticizing fellow politicians who won’t reveal their vaccination status. Give him credit for being consistent in his inconsistency.
• A new Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics poll finds young people aged 18-29 are breaking sharply Democrat. That’s good for Dems, if they can get the young 'uns to vote.
• Former President Donald Trump, who loves to draw contrasts between himself and his rivals, is privately calling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis a "dull personality." Not much of a campaign platform perhaps, but definitely a contrast.
• Commenting on declining COVID-19 rates in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said, "We’re not through this yet." No kidding.
• Chinese President Xi Jinping told the World Economic Forum that protectionism and bullying are bad, that "win-win cooperation" is good, and that a "zero-sum approach that enlarges one’s own gain at the expense of others will not help." Here’s hoping that the world leaders influenced by that include … Xi Jinping.

— Michael Dobie @mwdobie

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