Morgan Mckay

The idea of a “wealth tax” has come up now repeatedly on the national level, with Democratic presidential candidates like Senator Bernie Sanders and Senator Elizabeth Warren calling for an additional tax on the ultra-millionaires and billionaires.

Just recently, this has started to see a huge play on the state level, with rallies popping up almost every week at the Capitol all calling for the same thing.

“Make sure billionaires and millionaires pay their fair share so everyone has a home to live in,” shouted Senator Brad Holyman at a housing rally.

This “wealth tax” proposal is broken up into three different bills that would place an extra tax on the billionaires and ultra-millionaires. Advocates say money from this tax could help pay for gaps in funding for education, healthcare, public housing, and more.

A recent poll released by the Teacher’s Union showed 92 percent of New York voters support new taxes on the ultrawealthy. Looking at a breakdown of income wealth in New York, over 30 percent of income wealth goes to the top one percent. To even be considered in this top one percent, you must make at least $550,000.

This new income tax bracket being proposed would only affect four percent of New Yorkers. But Governor Andrew Cuomo has been staunchly against an increased wealth tax in New York, saying it would drive the millionaires and billionaires out of this state. And EJ McMahon with the Empire Center for Public Policy agrees.

“When you tax something aggressively you have less of it. You have less income to tax in the long run and fewer high-income people to tax. Just keep raising their taxes,” McMahon said.

McMahon says the wealthy are paying their fair share of taxes and New York relies on the billionaires to pay into the state budget. The current millionaire’s tax in place generates roughly $4.5 billion a year. And McMahon says if you tax the wealthy more, there will be less pie or wealth to take from.

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