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Cuomo Targeted In Death Threats Over Letting "Millionaire Tax" Expire
By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 6, 2011
Modified Oct 6, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Oct 6, 2011
Modified Oct 6, 2011
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Governor Cuomo and other state politicians have received threatening emails for refusing to renew a tax on millionaires that is set to expire at the end of the year. The tax is actually levied against New Yorkers with income over $200,000, but Assembly Democrats want to extend it for those literally making more than million dollars a year. It's estimated that extending the tax on the richest 3% of New Yorkers for another year could generate at least $1 billion in desperately-needed revenue. But isn't it better to drown the government and let that billion trickle down on its own, as many millionaires argue? No, say people sending threatening emails!
The subject of the latest email (the first was received in April) is "Time to kill the wealthy," and it goes on to say, "Hey King Andrew and friends! It's time to tax the millionaires. Stop shoveling wealth from the lower 99% into the top 1%. You're going to do it, or we are going to sow the kind of chaos you are unequipped to deal with."
The Daily News reports that the email was sent to Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) and Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Long Island), among others, but an aide to Cuomo would not confirm that the Governor personally received one.The email promises to firebomb upscale restaurants in Albany.
Meanwhile, in Washington, Senate Democrats announced they would push for a surtax on people earning at least $1 million a year to pay for President Obama’s jobs plan. Senator Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid are currently rewriting portions of President Obama's jobs bill to include a new 5 percent tax on income above $1 million, NPR reports.
Reid predicts the millionaire's tax would cover the entire cost of Obama's $450 billion jobs bill, and Schumer told reporters yesterday that "drawing the line at a million dollars is the right thing to do. Republicans will be hard-pressed to explain why they’d allow teachers and firefighters to be laid off rather than have millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share." GOP spokesman Michael Steel immediately rejected the proposal as a "desperate tax-hike gimmick."
Tagged
budget
chuck schumer
jobs bill
mario cuomo
millionaires tax
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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