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De Blasio lobbies Albany for a NYC mansion tax — again
2.5 percent tax on sales $2M-plus would benefit low-income seniors
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s making another case for mansion taxes.
The mayor headed to Albany on Wednesday to lobby for an additional 2.5 percent tax on sales above $2 million. Proceeds would benefit low-income seniors, according to the proposal. De Blasio also pressed for the extension of New York’s millionaires’ tax, which is set to expire this year.
“I want the governor and everyone else to remember this is to benefit 25,000 seniors,” said de Blasio, who’s been pushing for a mansion tax since 2015, according to the Gotham Gazette.
De Blasio’s proposed similar taxes before, only to be shut down. In 2015, he proposed a 1 percent flat tax on sales above $1.75 million and a 1.5 percent tax above $5 million.
Funds generated by the mansion tax would benefit low-income seniors, earning less than $50,000 a year. City Hall said the mansion tax would affect the top 4,500 real estate deals. It projected $336 million in tax revenue in 2018 if the mansion tax is approved.
The millionaires’ tax would increase the tax rate from 6.85 percent to 8.882 percent for those who make $2.1 million a year or more.
While Gov. Andrew Cuomo hasn’t taken a position on a mansion tax, the governor has included a three-year extension of the millionaires’ tax in his budget. The Assembly’s Democratic majority, which supports de Blasio’s mansion tax, wants a millionaires’ tax with brackets for those earning north of $5 million, $10 million and $100 million a year.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie said the mayor’s tax plan was “fiscally and socially responsible” on Wednesday. “A tax for New York City’s highest earners to help fund critical services like education, health care, and infrastructure.”
A spokesperson for the Senate GOP, Scott Reif, took to Twitter Wednesday, where he said: “Appreciate that @BilldeBlasio can still find his way to Albany, but this idea has already been rejected.” Later, he told the Gotham Gazette, “We support cutting taxes, not raising them.” [Gotham Gazette] — E.B. Solomont