New York could raise taxes on the rich and cut health care if it doesn’t get federal aid

The authorities of the state of NY, in the United States, presented on Tuesday a budget that includes a tax increase for the richest and cuts in health and education if it does not receive about 15,000 million dollars from the federal government.

The coronavirus brought a deep economic crisis to the coffers of the state, the most affected by the pandemic. Now, the leaders demand that Washington help to cover that deficit.

The Democratic governor, Andrew Cuomo, brought to the scene two projects for the next fiscal year: one predicts that the 15,000 million will come from the federal government; the other contemplates that only 6,000 million will arrive, the “worst possible scenario”, according to the president’s words.

If the second budget is approved, it would mean cutting $ 600 million in health, $ 2 billion in education and $ 900 million from other programs.

To mitigate the impact of the crisis, Democrats also proposed temporarily raising taxes for those who earn more than $ 5 million per year, increasing the rate from 8.82% to 10.82%.

Although Cuomo was quite reluctant on other occasions to raise taxes -something that some members of his party support-, the governor said that, in case of not receiving federal aid, the increase in the tax burden would be something “absolutely necessary” before the size of the crisis unleashed last year.

“New York paid a bill for the coronavirus that no other state in the country has paid,” he justified, the same day of the inauguration of Joe Biden, who promised $ 350,000 million in aid to local and state governments affected by the pandemic.