In already overtaxed New York, our legislative leaders are talking about raising taxes again and lying about it.

Some legislators are pushing a so-called “Millionaires Tax”.  There is only one thing, this “Millionaires Tax” would apply to any household with an income of $250,000 a year.

Setting aside the deception of the name, I have two major problems with this:

  1. Taxing upper-income people will dissuade corporate executives from wanting to stay in New York and cause more companies to leave.  Every time New York raises taxes, a corresponding number of Fortune 500 companies have left our state and our well earned reputation for high taxes makes it nearly impossible to recruit other major companies to replace them.  
  2. These taxes will end up hurting our local charities.   James Tilley, chairman-elect of the United Way of Buffalo and Erie County said in the Buffalo News: “My sense is that private industry as well as charitable organizations will fare better if individuals are allowed to determine where they want their money to go, which is another way of saying I think lower tax rates are better.”

Fairness is just an excuse to take from one group of people and spread it to another.

You can read a recent article about this tax HERE.