6 AUGUST 13, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Queens demonstrators urge governor to tax
Make the Road New York organized “Barrios Not Billionaires March” in Corona on Aug. 9. Photos by Angélica Acevedo
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
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 aff ected 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
LeFrak. 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
immigrant-led 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.
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