Budget Priority: Revenue

Social share icons

Establish a Fair, Progressive, and Sustainable Revenue Policy 

  • Federal cuts combined with existing structural budget issues will endanger State funds for services across the board, as well as for communities.

A More Progressive Personal Income Tax

  • New York’s personal income tax (PIT) currently imposes the same tax rate on married households making $323,000 to $2.2 million.
  • Create a new bracket for filers making over $5 million but not over $25 million, increase the top rate from 10.3% to 11.3%.
  • For filers making over $25 million, increase the top rate from 10.9% to 11.9%.

Investment Income Tax Increase

  • Impose a 2% to 4% surtax on investment and corporate dividend income for New York’s highest earners. 

Raise the Corporate Tax Rate

  • Corporations received a historic tax cut under the 2017 “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act”, which reduced the federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%.
  • New York could generate over $1 billion by raising its state corporate tax rate from 7.25% to 9%. 

Require IDAs and LDCs to Raise Living Standards in Local Communities

  • More effective oversight, transparency, and claw back provisions for IDAs and LDCs.
  • Prevailing rate and project labor agreements should apply to all construction projects and labor standards for permanent jobs created by IDAs and LDCs.
  • Require local approval of IDA and LDC tax giveaways, and lost revenue should not count against property tax caps.
  • Prohibit IDAs from waiving school taxes. 

Corporate Tax Reform

  • Multinational corporations have developed sophisticated techniques to avoid taxes, such as shifting their profits to foreign countries.
  • New York can combat tax avoidance strategies by conforming to the federal rules for Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income, the Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax, or shifting to Worldwide Combined Reporting. 

Properly Fund Staffing of Tax Enforcement

  • Low staffing levels of auditors and support staff at the Department of Taxation and Finance have limited the ability of the State to ensure compliance with tax law and exacerbated the State’s revenue problems. Adequate and properly trained staff will help raise the revenue needed and ensure fairness in the tax system.