I wrote last week about taxing the rich in NY. Well, there is more to come according to this Wall Street Journal article called “How Democrats Make Millionaires:”
That’s the message coming out of Albany, N.Y., where a newly ascendant Democratic majority led by Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver forced a deal with the Democratic governor to impose a new “millionaires’ tax.” The beauty is that to pay this tax, you won’t have to make anywhere near a million dollars. If you make even $300,000 a year, the cash-strapped Empire State will consider you a millionaire.
But New York State is not alone. It is just following the steps of other states:
In California in 2004, for example, a Democratic assemblyman championed a successful ballot initiative that imposed a 1% surcharge on personal incomes over a million dollars, to pay for mental health programs. This year, another Democratic assemblyman has introduced a bill that would impose another 1% tax on million-dollar incomes, this time to help state colleges from having to raise their tuition and fees.
In a similar way, the Democratic governor of Maryland last year successfully established a new 6.25% tax bracket for million-dollar incomes. Likewise, Connecticut Democrats have just released a plan that would jack up taxes on millionaires by 60%. Say what you will about the merits of these millionaire taxes, they at least have the virtue of applying to people who in fact earn a million dollars a year.
And New Jersey, of course:
In 2004, then Gov. Jim McGreevey became the first Democrat to get through a millionaires’ tax whose reach extended to nonmillionaires. The McGreevey “millionaires’ tax” kicked in at $500,000.
We will see how that works for Democrats. I predict: not too well. But then it will probably be too late.