Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pushed Gov. Andrew Cuomo to tax billionaires who live in New York state and use the money to aid people hurt by the coronavirus-induced economic crisis.
Ocasio-Cortez, a New York Democrat, is part of a coordinated movement, known as the Fund Excluded Workers, pushing Cuomo to pass legislation that would tax the state’s 118 billionaires, who are worth an estimated $566.4 billion.
Although similar efforts have previously stalled in New York’s Republican-controlled state Senate — Cuomo, a three-term governor, also has a long history of opposing measures that raise taxes on the wealthy — Democrats won control of both state legislatures in 2018.
Under the bill, sponsored by Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens, the unrealized capital gains of the state’s billionaires would be taxed. It would raise an estimated $5.5 billion in revenue, which would go toward workers not eligible for unemployment benefits or federal relief measures.