New York State Is Set to Raise Taxes on Those Earning Over $1 Million

The budget deal could pave the way for a casino in New York City, an idea long floated as a possible boon for the state’s tax revenues. Developers have salivated at the potential market in a city of nine million which once drew more than 50 million visitors a year. Language being circulated among lawmakers would allow the state to issue three casino licenses, almost certainly to be granted in the city and the suburbs, accelerating an expansion that had been scheduled to begin in 2023.

Other aspects of the budget, which was due on April 1, are still being negotiated, and could provide significant relief for New Yorkers still struggling from the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, from assistance for small businesses to money for tenants late on rent and cash payments for undocumented immigrants who did not qualify for federal stimulus checks.

Indeed, this year’s budget negotiations — like last year’s — were overshadowed by the pandemic, with many lawmakers working from home and most of the deals being formulated via video meetings even as the state reckoned with financial challenges related to the pandemic.

Even so, there appeared to be an agreement to use the revenue from the higher taxes on the rich to vastly increase education spending and implement a recovery grant program for small businesses that suffered losses during the pandemic.

The corporate franchise tax rate would also increase to 7.25 percent from 6.5 percent, but it is supposed to remain unchanged for small businesses. The proposed tax rate increases were reported in The Wall Street Journal.

For months, a statewide coalition of activists pushed for a slew of new taxes on the superrich, a top priority for the ascendant progressive wing in Albany. The activists pushed back against migration fears and framed higher taxes as essential to help support needy New Yorkers, especially after the pandemic.

“Thanks to thousands of New Yorkers who took to the streets and the ballot box, tireless advocates and grass-roots organizers, and the new Democratic legislative power in Albany, we are beginning to transform New York from a state that protects the wealthy to a state that delivers for the many,” said Rebecca Bailin, campaign manager for the Invest In Our New York Coalition, which includes unions, the Working Families Party and the Democratic Socialists of America.