Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver yesterday endorsed boosting the city income tax on the wealthy — clashing with Mayor Bloomberg, who called such a tax hike a “dumb” idea.
“People who can afford more money should pay more money,” Silver said at an event on the Lower East Side.
Public Advocate Bill de Blasio last week recommended increasing taxes on residents earning more than $500,000 to fund preschool programs.
Silver noted that Gov. Cuomo and the state Legislature just raised the state income tax on high earners to help balance Albany’s budget.
“We did that in the state while reducing taxes for the middle class,” Silver said. “There’s no reason the city shouldn’t do the same thing if the revenue is necessary. I am not opposed to that at all as long as you make the tax code fairer across the board.”
A city income-tax hike would need approval in Albany. That is unlikely to happen, particularly if Republicans allied with Bloomberg maintain control of the state Senate.
Bloomberg on Monday called deBlasio’s tax-the-rich plan as “ about as dumb a policy I can think of.”