PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES JOIN FAITH GROUPS IN NEW YORK TO LAUNCH STATEWIDE TOUR TO DEMAND A FAIR BUDGET

Sunday, March 18

For Immediate Release

March 18, 2018

Contact: Kelsea-Marie Pym

kpym@patrioticmillionaires.org

202-446-0489

PATRIOTIC MILLIONAIRES JOIN FAITH GROUPS IN NEW YORK TO LAUNCH STATEWIDE TOUR TO DEMAND A FAIR BUDGET

A coalition led by the faith community launches a tour to highlight the need for tax and budget justice in this year’s New York state budget

LAUNCH EVENT ADVISORY:

WHERE:  Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, 1434 Straight Path Wyandanch, NY  11798

WHEN:    March 19, 2018   9:45 to 10:45

WHAT:     Kick off Rally for Fair and Faithful Budget Tour

 

SPEAKERS:

Richard Koubek, MC, Jobs With Justice,

Rev. Peter Cook, New York State Council of Churches

Roger Clayman, ED of the LI Federation of Labor

Anita Halasz, ED of LI Jobs with Justice

Noelle Campbell, Director of OLMM’s Gerald Ryan Outreach Center

Joe Samolduski, Director of St. Ignatius Outreach

Rev. Cheri Kroon, Pastor, Plainview Reformed Church

Rev. Bill Brisotti, Pastor of OLMM, blesses the van

Morris Pearl, Patriotic Millionaires

NEW YORK – On Monday March 19, the Patriotic Millionaires will join a coalition of faith and labor groups in New York to kick off a statewide “Fair and Faithful Budget” tour at Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal to rally for progressive, fair-share taxes in this year’s state budget, due by April 1.

New York has a $4.4 billion budget shortfall, record levels of child poverty and homelessness, and the highest level of economic inequality (as measured by the Gini coefficient) of any of the 50 states.

“The Empire State has the most vibrant economy and is the home for the most innovative cities not because we have the smallest government, but because we have the government that has the resources to supply education, and public services that make people want to move to New York and live in New York. We are New York. It is time once again to use the vast wealth of our state, including 3.5 billion dollars from the carried interest loophole and 2.3 billion dollars from new tax brackets on those with the very highest incomes to make New York the true capital of the financial world and of civic life in our nation” said Patriotic Millionaires’ Chair Morris Pearl.

Smart tax policy rooted in justice can confront all of these problems, and fair-share revenue proposals backed by Governor Cuomo, the Assembly majority conference and both Senate Democratic factions can be a significant first step towards addressing New York’s egregious economic inequality.

“The austerity of our state and federal budgets which disproportionately hurt the poor is unnecessary if the very rich who overwhelmingly benefited from the Federal tax law were asked to pay more,”  said The Reverend Peter Cook, New York State Council of Churches.

The “Fair and Faithful Budget Tour” will support a progressive revenue package for New York to:

  • Close unfair tax loopholes Congress wouldn’t close

  • Make sure multi-millionaires pay their fair share in taxes

  • Ask New York City real estate developers and condo-buyers to pay their fair share for transit and infrastructure statewide

On the campaign trail, President Trump promised to crack down on hedge fund tax dodgers, close corporate tax loopholes, and help lower and middle income class families.  But the Republican-led Congress didn’t do that:  instead, they passed massive corporate tax cuts, lavish giveaways to the richest Americans, and tax increases on working people — and the deficits they created will be used to threaten Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Now, New Yorkers are taking matters into their own hands.

“Regular New Yorkers didn’t benefit from the ‘GOP tax scam’ — we got hurt,” said Charles Khan, Organizing Director of the Strong Economy For All Coalition. “Now we’re building support for Albany lawmakers to make sure the billionaires and hedge fund managers who got the biggest benefits from the new tax law pay their fair share in state taxes.  $8 billion in new revenue is real money we can use to fund our public schools, assure healthcare for all and end the homelessness crisis.”

The coalition-backed revenue package would provide $8 billion in new revenue for public purposes — raised only from wealthy New Yorkers who can well afford to pay.

CARRIED INTEREST LOOPHOLE CLOSER

  • Backed by Cuomo, Assembly and both factions of Senate Democrats

  • Raises $3.5 billion per year

  • Closes a loophole that Trump promised to close but didn’t

  • Only taxes hedge fund and private equity managers who can well afford to pay

MULTIMILLIONAIRES TAX

  • Fair-share taxes on multi-millionaires

  • Raises $4 billion per year

  • Addresses the deep unfairness of the new federal tax plan

  • Taxes only those people making more than $5 million every year

LUXURY REAL ESTATE TAX

  • Progressive tax on real estate transactions over $5 million

  • Part of a package that raises $500 million per year

  • Addresses the steep increase in the most luxurious real estate in Manhattan

  • New York taxes are lower than other global centers of wealth like Hong Kong, London & Paris

We’re also supportive of the targeted assessment on corporate tax breaks to fund healthcare programs and efforts to help more New Yorkers maintain our traditional federal tax deduction for state and local taxes.

The “Fair and Faithful Budget Tour” is supported by: New York State Council of Churches, Long Island Jobs with Justice, Patriotic Millionaires, Network Lobby, Labor Religion Coalition of New York, the Strong Economy for All Coalition, Citizen Action and others.

 

The Tour Schedule is as follows:

March 19, 2018:  Long Island & The Bronx

Wyandanch:  

Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, 1434 Straight Path Wyandanch, NY  9:45 to 10:45 AM

Bronx:

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 777 E 222nd St, Bronx, NY 10467 Noon-1:30 PM

 

March 20, 2018:  Kingston & Albany

Kingston:  

Chiz’s Heart House, 256 Washington Ave, 9:00 to 9:45 AM

Old Dutch Church 272 Wall Street 10:00 to 11:00 AM

Albany:

State Capitol, Million Dollar Staircase, 1:00 PM

Refugee and Immigrant Resettlement RISSE (Refugee and Immigrant Support Services of Emmaus) 715 Morris Street, Albany 3:00

 

March 21, 2018:  Utica & Buffalo

Utica:

Thea Bowman House for Women and Children, 731 Lafayette Street, 9:00 to 11:00 AM

Buffalo:

Back to Basic Ministries, 1370 William St #3, Buffalo, NY 14206  3:00 to 5:30 PM

 

For more information, contact

Kelsea-Marie Pym 503-608-2509 kpym@patrioticmillionaires.org

The Reverend Peter Cook 508-380-8289 pcook@nyscoc.org  

 

 

 

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About the Patriotic Millionaires

Proud “traitors to their class,” members of the Patriotic Millionaires are high-net worth Americans, business leaders, and investors who are united in their concern about the destabilizing concentration of wealth and power in America. The mission of The Patriotic Millionaires organization is to build a more stable, prosperous, and inclusive nation by promoting public policies based on the “first principles” of equal political representation, a guaranteed living wage for all working citizens, and a fair tax system. You can find out more at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/about/

The Patriotic Millionaires have appeared on hundreds of media outlets here and abroad, including The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, the PBS NewsHour, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and many others. You can find more coverage at https://patrioticmillionaires.org/media

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