QUEENS COMMUNITY URGES GOVERNOR TO TAX
BILLIONAIRES, CREATE WORKER BAILOUT FUND
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Governor Andrew Cuomo
said he doesn’t support a bill
that Jackson Heights State
Senator Jessica Ramos and
Manhattan Assemblywoman
Carmen De La Rosa sponsored
to place higher taxes on New
York’s billionaires — but people
in parts of Queens most affected
by COVID-19 say that he’s just
giving the richest a free ride.
The Billionaires’ Tax (S.8277/
A.01041) would establish a “billionaire
mark to market tax” to
impose a tax on residents with
$1 billion dollars or more in total
assets, in order to direct that
revenue into a worker bailout
fund for New Yorkers who have
been left out of federal and state
aid during the pandemic.
On Sunday, more than 300
people marched during Make
the Road New York’s “Barrios
Not Billionaires March” in support
of the legislation, from Corona
Plaza west along Roosevelt
Avenue and down Junction Boulevard
to LeFrak City complex
where they called out billionaire
businessman Richard Le-
Frak. This is just one of several
demonstrations held in the last
few months of the pandemic in
support of the Billionaires Tax.
However, Cuomo believes
the bill would chase away New
York’s 119 billionaires. Ramos,
De La Rosa, and the bill’s backers
say “let them leave.”
Organizers with Make the
Road New York (MRNY), the
largest progressive immigrantled
organization in the state,
said the demonstration focused
on improving the Black, Brown,
trans, queer, immigrant and
low-income communities of New
York, all of whom have been disproportionately
impacted by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We need relief and we need
relief now,” a member of Make
the Road New York said.
One member of Desis Rising
up and Moving (DRUM)
said she lost her job right after
the pandemic hit, but as an international
student has had to
“worry about thousands of dollars”
in education, medical and
food bills.
“We have not received support
from any institution, our
city and state have failed us
repeatedly,” she said. “The suffering
of workers have been
falling on deaf ears of Governor
Cuomo, our state and government
has repeatedly bailed out
corporations during economic
crises but have turned a blind
Make the Road New York organized “Barrios Not Billionaires March” in Corona on Aug. 9. Photos by Angélica Acevedo
eye on workers who are at the
cusp of becoming homeless.”
There were several speakers
and chants to cancel rent
throughout the march, as well
as music by NYC Mariachi and
dances by the Traditional Indigenous
Danza group who wore
colorful Chinelos de San Diego
garments as they led the march
with energetic twirls.
Cuomo said last week that
the Billionaire’s Tax bill is no
good on the basis that the federal
government had exacerbated
the crisis in the first place, and
it’s not on anyone but Washington
to refill the coffers of state
and local government, not billionaires.
When asked if there was a
limit to his opposition of taxing
billionaires, Cuomo told am-
NewYork Metro the state would
have to be under extreme circumstances.
“If the legislation is not going
to help New York, you know
what I say to federal lawmakers?
Don’t pass it,” Cuomo said
on Aug. 3. “One percent of the
population pays 40 percent of
taxes, and they’re the most mobile
people on the globe … That
would be a bad place we’d have
to go to to raise taxes.”
The governor says he is
holding out for another stimulus
TIMESLEDGER | 8 QNS.COM | AUG. 14-20, 2020
that would offer financial
relief to the decimated budgets
of cities and states, criticizing
the executive order signed by
President Donald Trump over
the weekend and over the last
few weeks deriding the HEALS
Act.T
he march ended in front of
LeFrak City Apartments complex,
where some members of
MRNY, New York Communities
for Change (NYCC) and New
Immigrant Community Empowerment
(NICE) gave speeches
addressing Cuomo’s previous
comments on the tax.
“The rich are getting richer
and the poor are getting poorer,
isn’t that a shame,” said NYCC
Chair Leroy Johnson.
A recent study by Americans
for Tax Fairness found that 119
of the state’s billionaires — of
whom 113 are U.S. citizens and
six are foreign-born with residence
in the state — collectively
saw their wealth increase $77.3
billion or by almost 15 percent
during the first three months of
the pandemic.
Ramos explained that the
tax they’re proposing would
generate about $5.5 billion, or
approximately $50 million per
billionaire.
“That sounds like a lot of
money to us — because it is
— but it’s not a lot of money to
them,” Ramos said. “Richard
LeFrak alone has made more
than $850 million over the past
four months. It’s a fraction of
that. It’s like asking them to go
Dutch.”
De La Rosa, who is co-sponsoring
the bill in the Assembly,
said once the tax is imposed,
they will be able to create a
worker bailout fund.
“We won’t rest until this
bill passes,” De La Rosa said.
“When we impose the tax, it’s
important we create a fund for
workers, because there’s always
funds for corporations. Corporations
don’t eat, feel or die —
the people do.”
The event ended with the
kids having a go at a piñata that
had a photo of President Donald
Trump and Richard LeFrak,
who supports the president and
is among the nearly one in 10
U.S. billionaires who have donated
to his campaign.
Make the Road New York
organized the event and was
joined by Housing Justice for
all Coalition, Street Vendor
Project, Woodside on the Move,
Adhikaar, among other human
rights groups. Assembly members
Catalina Cruz and Brian
Barnwell, Democratic candidate
for Jackson Heights State
Assembly Jessica González-
Rojas and former Queens district
attorney candidate Tiffany
Cabán were also in attendance.
/QNS.COM
