Tuesday, January 7, 2014

NYC Mayor De Blasio Loves Taxes

A NyPo editorial:

‘We do not ask more of the wealthy to punish success. We do it to create more success stories.”
So spoke Mayor de Blasio in his inaugural, explaining his pitch to raise income taxes on people earning more than $500,000 to fund his plans for universal pre-K.

In effect, said the mayor, the progressive idea is this: In exchange for imposing on the city’s wealthy the price of a “small soy latte at your local Starbucks” each day, our youngest citizens will find their lives transformed by his new program for universal pre-K.

But after less than a week in office, the mayor has changed the equation. When asked Monday whether he would insist on raising taxes even if Albany came up with a different source for the cash to finance his pre-K plans, Mayor Bill was emphatic:

“You guys have asked this now, this is probably the 412th time, a variation on the theme. I wanna go over this again: We have a goal. We believe in this goal. We believe it’s the right thing to do. We are sticking to this goal. We’re not going to bargain against ourselves.”

We’ll take that as a “Yes, I’m going to raise taxes no matter what.”

As Mayor Bill went on to point out, if Albany came up with the cash he’s requesting for his pre-K program, he could find plenty of other things to spend it on. In other words, raising taxes is not simply a means. It’s an end in itself.

It’s an astounding position for a mayor of New York whose citizens are among the most highly taxed in the nation. These high taxes are sending some of our most successful citizens to places such as Florida, where there is no income tax. And de Blasio’s assurances that the tax would be temporary will likely not persuade New Yorkers still paying Gov. David Paterson’s “temporary” tax hike.

We’ll give him this: Mayor Bill is at least being upfront about the real value of his pre-K proposal.
Turns out it is less important for how it might raise kiddie learning than for how it helps him raise taxes on the wealthy.

9 comments:

  1. NYC is on the path to Detroit(sorry Karen DeCoster, it is what it is).

    If you'd have told people 40 years ago that Detroit would not only have exhausted all its wealth but would be filled with ruin porn in the way of empty buildings and little industry they'd have put you in a straight jacket in a padded cell.

    I'm telling y'all, the same thing is coming to NYC.

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    1. Your comparison is weak, for NYC is privileged in several ways that Detroit was not. For example, Detroit did not host a Federal Reserve bank, much less a privileged FR bank.

      It's also noteworthy that NYC is not a manufacturing center vulnerable to import competition from a conquered foe that is re-industrializing under the protection of its conqueror. I'm referring to Japan, of course.

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    2. "Your comparison is weak, for NYC is privileged in several ways that Detroit was not. For example, Detroit did not host a Federal Reserve bank, much less a privileged FR bank. "

      Fair enough, but what if the dollar loses reserve status? What if the currency blows up?

      What if a gold back Chinese currency pops up?

      If you think the policies of the government running NYC won't drain wealth from the city over time because of the monopoly privilege of the local banks, I think you might be underestimating the destruction that can occur regardless.

      How many wealthy people can leave before NYC finds itself in similar fiscal straights to Detroit?

      If the paradigm for automobiles changed so quickly in 40 years why couldn't the same happen in currency?

      40 years is a lot of time...and it seems to me that that NYC is following the Detroit path of governance to a "T".

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    3. I think Robert Wenzel got it right several weeks ago when he said De Blasio is just a typical crony leftist.
      This guy talks like a pinko...but then so did Obama and look whom HE bailed out with tax payer money.
      So why would the rich flee? Who says that while De Blasio takes taxes out of the wealthy's left pocket, he will not fill the right pocket with some kind of buy off?
      Corporate America, after all, welcomed regulations and taxes in the progressive era even though it seemed an oxymoron.
      The people he's already going after surely aren't the "1%" are they? (the horse carriage rides).

      Like any crony, despite what his mealy mouth says, he'll likely go after the less well off in a roundabout way while protecting, in some way, the people that New York really needs.

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    4. P.S. When ANY rich guy welcomes and supports a politician, they already know he won't be going after their wealth. Not really.

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  2. Any sane people left in NYC: flee now.

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  3. It's NewSpeak: No matter what happens, there will be some result that will be praised as "SUCCESS!!!".
    Or, rather, "Stakhanovite!!!"

    Regardless of success or failure: It DOESN'T MATTER.
    It's the Stalinist version of "Esse ist Percipi". To be is to be perceived and we know that there will be a printed certificate given to some little 5 year old who has learned not to pee on the floor.
    "We finally got him to stop! See?!?? It's proof that this is all a success!"

    Let's all drink to the Five Year Plan. Mebbe we should all just drink. Or have a toke. Or something.

    CW

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  4. As I have said before, if this program is so critical to the well being of these youngsters, certainly all people of all income levels would want and even demand to participate in paying for such a wonderful program. My guess is that if this CTA payback scheme were put to popular vote with a raise in everyone's taxes to pay for it, it would be dead before election day. The easiest way to kill populist ideas is to make the populace participate is paying for them. If the Republican party were smart, and we know they generally aren't, they would turn the tables on the envy driven compassionate Democrats by proposing across the board tax hikes when ever they propose stuff like this. And when they cry over it, just throw the compassion argument in their faces, like "you must hate [insert victim here]. How can you not want to be part of helping [insert victim]."

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  5. Anyone wealthy and/or productive in NYC are going to leave NYC if they haven't started already (along with having the means to). They'll either move to NJ or move further upstate into either Westchester, Rockland or Orange county to avoid NYC taxes. Hell thats been a common tactic of NYers for years, commute to NYC for the bigger check but live in areas to not get raped by the city's tax system.

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