The Strong Economy for All Coalition is fighting for budget justice this year, which is another way of saying they want to see tax hikes on the very wealthiest New Yorkers. 

In response to the plea to hold the line on taxes made earlier this week on Capital Tonight by Partnership for New York City President and CEO Kathryn Wylde, Stronger for All’s Charles Khan argued that the very wealthiest New Yorkers did quite well over the past 12 months.

“Kathy Wylde represents the biggest corporations and the wealthiest people in New York and they’ve done really, really well. They’ve had a banner year,” Khan said.  

New Yorkers increased their wealth by $156 billion according to a new report by the liberal group, Americans for Tax Fairness.

Additionally, America’s poverty rate increased by 2.4 percentage points over the final six months of 2020.

According to a story published in January in the Chicago Tribune, that’s the largest increase since the 1960s.

“We had record homelessness before COVID. We had a housing crisis before COVID. We had stagnant levels of unemployment in communities of color before COVID,” Khan said. “And Governor Cuomo has been cutting programs that address poverty and underfunding education for a decade now.”

Lawmakers have included tax hikes in both one-house budget bills, but Governor Cuomo has recently backed away from his advocacy for a PIT tax, pointing to better-than-anticipated revenues, and billions in federal stimulus money. 

The budget is due on April 1.