Sunday, March 29, 2009

How not to help the economy

New York State raises taxes on "the rich":
The new plan, which would expire after three years, would represent the largest state income tax increase in recent history, significantly larger than the surcharges imposed from 2003 to 2005, when the state last faced a major recession.
The plan would raise $4 billion a year by creating two new tax brackets, the highest one affecting those who earn $500,000 or more. If approved by rank-and-file lawmakers in the Assembly and State Senate, the tax increases would be a major victory for unions and liberal advocacy groups and a signal of the new balance of power in Albany, where Democrats won control of both houses of the Legislature and the governor's office in last year’s election.
Although the proposed tax has been called a "millionaires' tax," it would affect those with incomes starting at $300,000, who would be taxed at a rate of 7.85 percent. The highest bracket would carry a tax rate of 8.97 percent -- the same as New Jersey's current highest rate.
Ooh, that engine of economic growth, New Jersey!

2 comments:

  1. Great. I just lost my breakfast. From the end of the article:

    “It’s a profound breakthrough for tax fairness,” said Dan Cantor, executive director of the Working Families Party. “The era of phony prosperity has ended, and a new era of real shared sacrifice must begin."

    This stuff is ceasing to amuse me.

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  2. As the inverted tax pyramid becomes more and more unstable, the entrepeneurs and investors will be faced with the question of "surrender, John Galt, or flee?"

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