Reply #19: Will Popular Reformer Cuomo’s Plan Tax the 1 Percent?

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http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/will_popular_reformer_cuomos_plan_tax_the_1_percent_20111208/

Held aloft by the highest approval ratings of any governor in America, Andrew Cuomo scarcely seemed to worry about angering his state’s progressives, who were disappointed by his refusal to extend a state surtax on New York’s millionaires. But in what may come to be regarded as a watershed moment in his tenure, Cuomo now plans a sweeping tax reform that is expected to demand more, not less, from the state’s wealthiest, while reducing the burden on the middle class—in the name of “fundamental fairness.”

Over the weekend, rumors of a shift in Cuomo’s anti-tax position began to circulate, confirmed on Monday morning when his office dispatched a short essay by the governor to newspaper editors around the state arguing that New York’s current tax code is “unfair” to the middle class and inhibits economic growth.

Rather than the expiring surcharges, which Cuomo castigates for raising the taxes of families making $200,000 a year—“hardly millionaires,” as he put it—his proposed new system would add higher brackets at the top end and lower brackets in the middle. Although he didn’t offer details yet, his aims are clear enough:

“First, we need to reform the code in a way that creates jobs and grows our economy. To do that, we need to put more money in New Yorkers’ pockets and inject it back in to the economy. There are also tax credits that can incentivize private-sector job growth.