Transcript: Mayor de Blasio Delivers Remarks At Mansion Tax Rally

March 22, 2017

Listen to the remarks at mansion tax rally

Mayor Bill de Blasio: Thank you to everyone who organized this gathering. To Speaker Heastie and Leader Stewart-Cousins, thank you for your leadership.

Look, the 2016 election was about income inequality. That’s what this whole country talked about for a year – how to address something that had gotten out of hand; how to take care of working people that were falling father and farther behind. Well, unfortunately what people are finding now as they look at the Trump administration – they’re seeing a president who wants to give more and more tax cuts to the wealthy, and tax cuts to the corporations, and tax cuts to the health insurance companies – that’s what’s happening right now. And there is an anger in this country and an anger in this state as people feel they have been lied to. They thought they were going to get some relief from their economic distress and what they’re finding is quite the opposite – that the rich are getting richer.

Right now, as we speak, the whole debate over the Affordable Care Act is proceeding and the Republican plan would give huge tax cuts to the wealthy and the insurance companies. So, before you even get to “tax reform” that President Trump’s been taking about, which is really a tax giveaway to the wealthy, you can already see a whole change on the healthcare front that will already advantage those who have so much.

So, right now, people are expecting the rest of us to fight back. They’re expecting our leaders in Albany to do something about it and to right the situation by asking the wealthy to pay more in State and local taxes. That’s how we address the madness we’re seeing in Washington and the lies we’re seeing in Washington. We have a chance here in New York State to live up to our reputation as the most progressive state in the country. We have a chance to do something about it by passing the Mansion Tax and passing the expanded millionaires’ tax. 

I wish I could tell you that we were dealing with a situation of equity and fairness, but we’re not. As we’re having this discussion here in Albany, there are many, many wealthy people in this country who are getting ready to have a lot more money in their pocket – that’s what’s going on. They are planning on huge tax cuts up ahead. And what’s the going to do to every-day people? That’s going to take away money from what the federal government does to support every-day Americans and every-day New Yorkers. It’s then going to have a negative impact on the State budget, and it’s certainly going to have a negative impact on my city’s budget, and cities and counties all over the State. 

All of that is playing out right now, but we have a chance to provide the antidote here in New York State by expanding the millionaires’ tax. That would bring in over $2 billion. It would help us address all of the things that are not being addressed right now sufficiently – education for our kids, public safety, infrastructure, affordable housing. We need more on all those fronts all over the state, but imagine how much more we’re going to need if these Trump tax cuts for the wealthy go through and federal revenue plummets. We have one chance to get it right before the federal government passes their budget later in the year – this is our one chance.

And, second – the Mansion Tax. The Mansion Tax makes so much sense. It says anyone who buys a home in New York City of over $2 million in value pays a little bit more so senior citizens can have a affordable housing. 25,000 senior citizens would get affordable housing through the Mansion Tax. You know what the average cost of a home covered by this tax [inaudible]? $4.5 million. I think we can all agree, if someone can afford to buy a $4.5 million-dollar home, they can give a little more so our seniors can have affordable housing, right?

[Applause]

I’ll finish with this – again, with profound thanks to all those here and the great leadership of the Assembly. Thank you, Speaker, for including the expanded millionaires’ tax and the Mansion Tax in a [inaudible] budget. Thank you to all of our allies in the Senate. 

Here’s the bottom line – right now, there are seniors struggling to get by in New York City and all over New York State. There are seniors struggling to get by because so many of them are on fixed incomes. So many of them don’t have a way to get more income but the cost of housing keeps going up. 

We say as a society, we honor our elders. We say that we want to make sure they’re taken care of in their golden years. But, for too many of them, they cannot afford the rent. They’re choosing between rent, and medicine, and food. I’ve talked to seniors – I know people have here too – who literally have to make that choice each month. We owe it to them to get it right and asking the wealthy to pay their fair share so our seniors can have  decent life is a thing we call common sense.

Let’s pass this Mansion Tax. Let’s pass this expanded millionaires’ tax. Let’s serve the people of New York City and New York State.

Thank you.

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