With New York State facing a $6 billion dollar budget deficit, the speaker of the state assembly says it might be time to impose new taxes on the rich.
A multi billion dollar gap in the Medicaid budget is contributing to the state’s deficit, and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says he knows it’s going to be a “tough budget year”.
“For us in the assembly, we would always rather raise revenue that cut,” Heastie said. “We think that New York has some very generous people, and I’m saying that facetiously, that we would always like to call on them to do more, in that regard.”
The Speaker says it’s a better choice than “cutting health care or denying health care” to New Yorkers.
Opponents of imposing new taxes on the wealthy, including at times Governor Andrew Cuomo, say it could cause rich people to leave the state.
The Speaker did not provide any details, and he says he has not yet talked about potential new taxes with the governor, or with Democrats who lead the Senate, but he says those discussions will take place over the next few weeks.