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Bloomberg Warns Against Taxing the Rich
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 7, 2009
Modified Mar 7, 2009
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 7, 2009
Modified Mar 7, 2009
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Mayor Bloomberg repeated a familiar refrain during his radio show on WOR yesterday: Why taxing the rich isn't a great idea. He said, "We can tax the rich, except that, if you haven't looked at the stock market lately, they aren't making any money."
The mayor, whose considerable wealth makes him the 8th richest American (according to Forbes), also explained, "They [the wealthy] are the ones that buy in the stores so that people that work in the stores have jobs in the stores, generate sales tax... The rich are the ones that go to the expensive restaurants where, as a matter of fact, I looked at a list the other day of restaurants where the staff is unionized. They're the expensive restaurants. They're not the cheap restaurants." The Post notes he also commented about those protesting to raise taxes for the rich at City Hall on Thursday, "I hear the protesters, you know. I think that deep down inside, I assume, they understand that we live in a different world," leading to the criticism that Bloomberg is "tone deaf."
According to his budget, the city is set to lose tens of billions in revenue from jobs, many of those being Wall Street jobs with big bonuses. And perhaps as a signal to out-of-towners, Mayor Bloomberg also said, "You know, the yelling and screaming about the rich - we want rich from around this country to move here. We love the rich people."
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mayor bloomberg
rich
tax
wealthy tax
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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