PolitickerNY sums it up:
Nearly three-quarters of New York voters say they want an income tax surcharge on the state’s wealthiest residents, according to a new Siena Poll out today.
“Voters give a resounding yes, 72-26 percent, to increasing taxes on New Yorkers earning more than one million dollars a year,” said Siena spokesman Steven Greenberg. “And they do so after being told that supporters – including many Assembly Democrats – say it will raise enough money from those who can most afford it to offset additional education and health care cuts, and opponents – including Cuomo and Senate Republicans – say it will make New York less attractive to business, putting new and existing jobs at risk. In March, and without the arguments in support and opposition, voters supported the millionaire‟s tax 71-27 percent.”
The current tax hits married couples earning more than $300,000, and singles earning more than $200,000. It is slated to expire on Dec. 31 and Senate Republicans have vowed to block its renewal. Earlier this month, Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos told TALK-1300 AM that he had Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s assurance that the surcharge would be allowed to die.
While New York's current tax surchage is nominally a local issue, it's one with national resonance. Poll after poll after poll shows extremely high support for raising taxes on the wealthiest. Andrew Cuomo probably figures he's too popular and too powerful to pay much of a price for letting this tax expire, but Democratic politicians elsewhere would do well to heed the message that their constituents keep trying to tell them: It's time to make the wealthy pay their fair share.