New Yorkers support higher tax on those making over $1M, poll shows

PHOTOGRAPHER: The Associated Press

The push for a higher tax on New Yorkers making more than $1 million a year is getting fresh life with a new poll showing overwhelming support, a high-profile rally today and the strengthening Occupy Wall Street protest in New York City.

The Siena College poll found 72 percent of New York voters support the tax to avoid further budget cuts. Just 26 percent oppose the proposal by powerful Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.

Also today, the union-backed “99 New York” rally supported extending the current so-called “millionaire’s tax” on New Yorkers with incomes over $200,000. It’s due to expire Dec. 31.

Standing in the way of renewing the current surcharge on the wealthy and Silver’s millionaire tax plan are Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his fiscal ally, the Republican majority of the Senate. Cuomo says taxing wealthier New Yorkers at higher levels would likely send the rich to Connecticut and New Jersey, taking their income tax revenue and jobs with them.

The GOP Senate promised fiscal restraint and no new or higher taxes when it regained the power and perks of the chamber’s majority in elections two years ago. Republican senators face the next challenge to their power next year in a state where Democrats hold nearly a 2-to-1 enrollment advantage.

But now, tax revenues are running behind projections, a $2 billion deficit looms, and schools and hospitals are howling after two years of flat state budgets capped by an overall cut in spending in April. And the public opinion polls and Occupy Wall Street protest are drawing attention to public unrest.

“Politicians are already starting to, grudgingly, take notice,” said Kelly Heresy from Occupy Wall Street, a demonstration started in New York City that’s drawing national and global support and attention. Protesters say they are trying to limit the power and privilege of the wealthy.

“This voice is not really represented by the politicians, who are mainly working on behalf of their biggest fund raisers — the corporations and banks,” said Heresy, a writer.

“They need to reform from the bottom up before they are truly on our side,” the movement stated on its Facebook page 30 days after the protests began in a Lower Manhattan park.