Minority caucuses: Extend millionaire’s tax

Brian Gibbons

Assemblyman Karim Camara, the chair of the New York State Legislative Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus, said the state budget should not be balanced “on the backs of the middle class and the poor.” UFT Vice President Karen Alford stands at his right.

City union leaders joined the leadership and members of the New York State Legislative Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic and Asian Caucus and the New York City Council Black, Latino and Asian Caucus on Oct. 25 for a press conference on the steps of City Hall to add their voices to the rising call for the extension of the state millionaire’s tax.

“New Yorkers deserve a budget plan of shared sacrifice,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara, the chair of the state caucus. The renewal of the income tax surcharge on households earning $1 million or more was vital, he said, “so we are not balancing the budget on the backs of the middle class and the poor.”

State Sen. Eric Adams echoed that theme.

“We passed a devastating budget last year and the only New Yorkers in the state who were pleased and did not share were those who were the most affluent,” he said. “That is unacceptable.”

Manhattan Councilman Robert Jackson, the co-chair of the City Council Caucus, appealed to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Legislature “to extend the millionaire’s tax to avoid further damage to our neighborhoods.”

UFT Vice President Karen Alford said, “We had to be here today because we believe in shared sacrifice. We definitely want the extension of this millionaire’s tax and we can’t allow it to sunset. We are the 99 percent asking the 1 percent to help out our communities, our city.”

She predicted that if the tax is not extended, more children will be crammed into classrooms, after-school tutoring programs will be lessened or eliminated, and art and music classes will be eliminated.

“Our children need these things to flourish and to grow,” Alford said.

John Samuelson, the president of Transport Workers Union Local 100, said working New Yorkers were suffering.

“It is a morally indefensible position to slash vital services for working families across this city and across this state while simultaneously giving the wealthiest folks in New York State a massive take-home pay increase,” he said.

The millionaire’s tax is set to expire on Dec. 31.