New York state Budget Agreement to Provide Middle Class Tax Cut

By Yehudit Garmaise

    Last night, the New York state Senate, Assembly and Governor Andrew Cuomo finalized their plans as to how they will spend $212 billion of public money next year.

   The budget, which still needs to pass the Legislature and be approved by the governor, is packed with proposals long favored by Democratic legislators, such as raising taxes on the rich and providing aid for renters, undocumented immigrants, and business owners.

   Progressives praised the budget’s allocations for education and other Democratic priorities, while Republicans criticized panned the generosity and the priorities of the budget, which exceeds last year’s by $18 billion.

  New York’s budget includes the $12.6 billion the state received from the federal stimulus, plus an additional $5 billion that New York state revenue has provided.

   As Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters today about the ways that he and the New York State Legislature divided up the finds they will allocate to the state, he said that the budget will help the middle class.

   “We have a tax cut that reduces personal income tax in this proposal,” the governor said. for the middle class that “reduces personal income tax.” 

     The middle class tax cut, he said, will “save 4.8 million New Yorkers over $2.2 billion this year.

   “So it's a significant middle class tax cut, because they were also economically devastated by COVID.”

   Also of help to the middle class in the budget is a childcare credit, in which “$2.3 billion in federal resources to provide high-quality childcare, so we can get back to work,” Gov. Cuomo said.