ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo yesterday for the first time refused to rule out raising taxes next year.
The governor said he’s listening to all ideas about how to stimulate the economy — including a restructuring of the state tax code that could increase tax rates primarily on higher-income earners.
Asked on Albany’s Talk 1300 AM radio if he’s ruling out raising taxes, he said, “I have not decided on the economic program for the state, part of which will be, how do you use the tax code to create jobs?”
“Some people on the tax code say you should increase taxes; some people say you should decrease taxes,” he later said on the Capitol Pressroom radio show. “We’re open to all the best thinking.”
He did say on both programs, “You know my position” on the “millionaires tax.” Cuomo opposes extending the 8.97 percent state income-tax rate on seven-figure earners, which is due to expire on Dec. 31.
Meantime, Big Apple business leaders are raising money for a 2012 campaign against state tax increases.
With Democratic state legislators and Occupy Wall Street protesters intensifying their calls for the millionaires tax, the Committee to Save New York is gearing up for a repeat of its successful 2011 counterattack.
The committee will need at least as much as the nearly $10 million it spent this year, said Real Estate Board of New York president Steven Spinola.
He said the committee “will clearly be opposing tax increases.”