September, 16 2020, 12:00am EDT
Patriotic Millionaires Chair: New York Budget Cuts are Avoidable, Cuomo Just Needs to Tax the Rich
"The people of New York have sacrificed enough during this pandemic—it’s depraved to ask them to sacrifice even more to close our state’s budget gap while wealthy New Yorkers are richer now than they’ve ever been."
NEW YORK
This morning, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that 495 members of his mayoral staff would take a weeklong, unpaid furlough in order to cut city government spending. New York City is facing a $9 billion budget gap, while New York state's budget deficit has grown to $14.5 billion as a result of the coronavirus crisis. Instead of looking to raise revenue from wealthy New Yorkers, many of whom have seen their net worths increase during the pandemic, Governor Cuomo has chosen to dramatically cut spending on programs that millions of New Yorkers rely on.
In response to Mayor de Blasio's furlough announcement, and Governor Cuomo's continued refusal to raise taxes on wealthy New Yorkers, Morris Pearl, former managing director at Blackrock, Inc. and Chair of the Patriotic Millionaires, issued the following statement:
Mayor DeBlasio's City Hall furlough is just a taste of the devastating budget cuts that are in store for New York in the coming months, all thanks to Governor Cuomo's refusal to tax wealthy New Yorkers.
New Yorkers shouldn't have to tighten their belts and prepare for austerity measures. There's plenty of money in this state to fund every single important government function, we just need a governor who is willing to tax the rich. Governor Cuomo's decision to block any attempt to close the state's budget gap by raising taxes on the rich is going to result in budget cuts that leave all New Yorkers worse off.
The people of New York have sacrificed enough during this pandemic--it's depraved to ask them to sacrifice even more to close our state's budget gap while wealthy New Yorkers are richer now than they've ever been. Our state's budget situation is a serious one, but it's one that's easily fixed. Ask rich New Yorkers like me to pay our fair share, that's all it takes.
For further comments or questions, please contact Sam Quigley at sam@patrioticmillionaires.org.
The Patriotic Millionaires is a group of high-net worth Americans who share a profound concern about the destabilizing level of inequality in America. Our work centers on the two things that matter most in a capitalist democracy: power and money. Our goal is to ensure that the country's political economy is structured to meet the needs of regular Americans, rather than just millionaires. We focus on three "first" principles: a highly progressive tax system, a livable minimum wage, and equal political representation for all citizens.
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HAPPENING NOW: A HUGE crowd of protesters march through the streets outside an FBI office in Milwaukee in support of Judge Hannah Dugan (Video: @unraveledpress.com)
[image or embed]
— Marco Foster ( @marcofoster.bsky.social) April 26, 2025 at 3:05 PM
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