This resolution was adopted by the Community Education Council District 1 on June 10, 2020.

 

WHEREAS, NYC schools are owed $1.1B from the State of New York based on their own Student Fair Funding formula; 

WHEREAS, in 2019 NYC received $1B in state funding, which was flat from the year prior;

WHEREAS, in 2020 the state of New York was the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. As a result, the entire state needed to shut down to ensure the well-being of New Yorkers;

WHEREAS, New York State has lost much-needed revenue due to the state shutdown and has had to consider drastic cuts across all agencies due to the deficit;

WHEREAS, many school districts and principals are considering staff, enrichment and resource cuts in order to balance their own school budgets;

WHEREAS, NYS legislators have been proposing new forms of revenue that would help not only help with the budget deficit, but it would also help generate new revenue year after year;

WHEREAS, NYS has 112 Billionaires living in the state, the most out of all of the States and in the history of the state;

WHEREAS, there are several currently-proposed NYS Ultra-Millionaire Income Tax bills— including Assembly Bill A10364, A10363, A8532, A10450 & Senate Bill S8164, S8164, S4511, S8329 — that would increase the income tax rate of those living in the state who earn over 1M from 6.85% to a range of 8.82% to 11.82% and would generate a projected amount of revenue from $2 Billion to $4.5 Billion;

WHEREAS, there is a currently-proposed Pied-á-Terre Tax bill — Assembly Bill A4540 & Senate S44 — that would tax the often-vacant homes of these Billionaires in the state of New York generated at least $650 Million a year;

WHEREAS, there is a currently-proposed Billionaire Wealth Tax bill — Assembly Bill A10414 & Senate S8277 — that would tax those holding $525B in wealth through capital gains and would generate a minimum of $5.5B a year;

WHEREAS, there is a bill to Restore the Jet and Yacht Tax — Assembly Bill A9053 & Senate S7135 — for items worth over $235K in value; 

WHEREAS, there are currently-proposed bills to eliminate 421A and 485A tax abatements, used by developers, which allow them not to pay taxes on property for a minimum of 10 years to a maximum of 25 years. This much-needed revenue would generate a minimum of $4B dollars;

WHEREAS, NYS Governor Cuomo has chosen to ignore these substantive bills that would help generate a continuous stream of much needed revenue for the State and instead is waiting on the Federal government for stimulus funds;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that New York State has a responsibility to its citizens to find new forms of revenue to ensure the stability of our state and the institutions that rely on state funds to function;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, CECD1 demands that the NYS Governor not cut school budgets. We cannot demand that our schools work with less resources but still expect our children produce stellar results;

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, CECD1 supports such revenue-generating bills that will help our schools remain funded and not have to balance the budget off the backs of our children.

 

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Published by cecdistrictone