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Worker holding DSA flag during a Tax the Rich march

Why Tax the Rich?

Well, New Yorkers work hard.

To provide for our families. To help our friends. To take care of our neighbors. To build a future we’d be proud to watch the next generation grow up in.

Worker holding DSA flag during a Tax the Rich march

Why Tax the Rich?

Well, New Yorkers work hard.

To provide for our families. To help our friends. To take care of our neighbors. To build a future we’d be proud to watch the next generation grow up in.

But the cost of living keeps rising.

Cost of Living in the New York Metropolitan Area
Cost of living in the New York Metropolitan Area

And the rich hoard income growth.

Income growth share captured by top 1% and bottom 99%
Income growth share captured by top 1% and bottom 99%

Making New York the most unequal state in the country.

1% of families in New York take home 31% of the income of the entire state
1% of families in New York take home 31% of the income of the entire state
Top 1% Income Share in New York and the US
Top 1% Income Share in New York and the US

But we have a solution:

TAX THE RICH.

And it’s popular. Really popular.

84% of New York voters support taxing the billionaires to fund public services.

The Bills

Revenue Bills

Bills to raise over $20 billion from the rich and their corporations

Corporate Tax
Capital Gains Tax

Progressive Income Taxes (“PIT”)
Heirs Tax
Billionaires’ Tax

Spending Bills

Bills to build the New York we deserve and reinvest in public goods

Housing Security

Good Cause Eviction
Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP)

Green New Deal for New York

Build Public Renewables Act
MTA Freeze Fares, Fund Frequency, & Free Bus Act

Universal Childcare and Education

The Universal Childcare Act
A New Deal for CUNY

Revenue Bills

Corporate Tax raises $9 billion

Read more about the Corporate Tax

Proposed Corporate Tax Rates
Proposed Corporate Tax Rates

Capital Gains Tax raises $12.5 billion

Read more about the Capital Gains Tax

Proposed Capital Gains Tax Rates
Proposed Capital Gains Tax Rates

Progressive Income Taxes (“PIT”) raises $15 billion

In 1972, the state tax code included fourteen tax brackets. In subsequent years, Republicans eliminated the brackets for the wealthiest and narrowed the range of taxes to benefit the wealthy.

In 2021, we fought and raised the PIT for those making over $1 million a year, and added progressive tax brackets at $1M, $5M, and $25M. 

Today, we’re fighting to restructure the income tax code to create more progressive tax brackets and raise revenue from the top 5% wealthiest New Yorkers.

Read more about Progressive Income Taxes

Proposed Progressive Income Tax Rates Chart

Heirs Tax raises $8 billion

We have the highest tax rates on income from work, lower tax rates on income from investments, and no taxes on inherited income. The rich remain rich because they inherit enormous amounts of wealth, often completely untaxed. This bill would overhaul our inheritance taxes with an Heirs Tax that treats inheritances as taxable income.

Mark-to-Market Billionaires’ Tax raises $34 billion the first year, then $1.7 billion each year thereafter.

The wealthiest New Yorkers pay almost no tax on their vast accumulations of wealth because they almost never sell their assets. Billionaires use these assets to derive huge amounts of cash through loans and other instruments, and then pass on their wealth to their heirs while avoiding taxes. 

The mark-to-market income tax creates a yearly tax on the annual increase in value of a billionaire’s total wealth. This would require billionaires to pay tax on their real economic income (their total gain in wealth).

Spending Bills

Housing Security

Rent Increase During Pandemic Across New York State
Rent Increase During Pandemic Across New York State

Good Cause Eviction

Good Cause Eviction provides safeguards for tenants from unfair and unreasonable eviction practices, empowers renters to demand improvements and better living conditions in their homes, and puts an end to exorbitant increases in rent that are affecting the entire state.

Read more about Good Cause Eviction

Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP)

The Housing Access Voucher Program (HAVP) provides rental subsidies for New Yorkers who are homeless or at risk of losing their homes and caps tenants’ rents at 30% of their income. Investing $250 million into HAVP will create up to 16,000 vouchers to house New Yorkers.

Read more about HAVP

Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)

Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA) allows tenants to own or remain as renters in their homes when their building is up for sale. 

Tenants could convert their building to resident-controlled housing, non-profit rentals, community land trusts, or more, using existing public subsidy programs. This reduces incentives for landlords to keep buildings in disrepair to sell them for profit.

Taxing the rich and investing $250 million in TOPA will convert 1,600 homes to democratically-controlled community-owned housing in the first year alone.

Read more about Tenant Opportunity to Purchase Act (TOPA)

Fund Public Housing

Fund Public Housing with $6.514 billion for badly-needed repairs in New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) and cancel $538 million in rent arrears for NYCHA residents who did not qualify for Emergency Rental Assistance. $351 million will also fund upstate public housing authorities.

Green New Deal for New York

Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA)

Read more about BPRA

Monthly Average Retail Price of Residential Electricity
Monthly Average Retail Price of Residential Electricity

Fix the MTA

Read more about Fix the MTA

Fix the MTA
Freeze fares at $2.75
Phase in free buses
6-minute train service
20% more bus service

Universal Childcare & Education

The Universal Childcare Act

Proportion of Median Income that NYC Families with Children Under Five Spend on Child Care
proportion of median income that nyc families with children under five spend on child care chart

A New Deal For CUNY

Read more about A New Deal for CUNY

SUNY and CUNY Faculty per 1,000 FTE students (bars) and Percent of Black and Hispanic Students (graph)
suny and cuny faculty per 1000 full time equivalent students chart

Contact your legislators and tell them to Tax the Rich