Mayor Adams Unveils “Axe the Tax for the Working Class,” Bold Proposal to Eliminate New York City Income Taxes for Working-Class Families
December 4, 2024
First Deputy Mayor Maria Torres-Springer: Good morning, everyone, welcome, and thank you for joining us today. On this stage are so many partners across government, of course, our brothers and sisters in labor. Thank you so much to HTC for hosting us here today. I think 32BJ is also here, and so many others.
Since day one of this administration, we have been laser focused on supporting, uplifting, and fighting for working class New Yorkers who keep this city running. And today, we are here to do just that. And so it is with great pride that I introduce to you the 110th mayor of New York City, a true blue collar mayor and champion for all New Yorkers, Eric Adams.
Mayor Eric Adams: Thank you, thanks so much, Diem, and I really want to thank Rich and HTC. We’ve had so many great memories here in this hall. Many battles have been fought and won, many notifications, announcements, many rallies. This is the fueling station. Whenever you feel as though you are emotionally on empty, you pull into HTC’s headquarters in this rallying hall, and you can hear them from a mile away really cheering you on, giving you the energy to move forward.
So we’re excited about today, making this announcement with two powerful working class unions, 32BJ and HTC, and the workers of this city. We know that so many people are going through difficult times, and the deputy mayor and her team, and the team at Borough Hall have clearly looked at how do we help the lives of working people? What do we do every day? And we don’t do that and accomplish that without partners, particularly in Albany. The Senator Leroy Comrie and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, they are the partners that we lean on often whenever we’re looking to fight on behalf of working class people, and this is a day of an important announcement.
We are fortunate to have, as New Yorkers are struggling, this is clear. As the philosopher said, the rent is too damn high, and people are struggling from everything, from childcare, to buying groceries, to buying school supplies, so many areas. The struggle continues, and our role and our job starting January 1st, 2022, is to say as an administration, how do we put money back into the pockets of New Yorkers? We can’t bring down the cost of bread, but we can give you some bread so that you can pay for the bills and the necessities that you have, and I am focused on that desire.
We were pleased to reach an agreement with the City Council last week, coming out of the committee, our City of Yes proposal tomorrow, we’re going to have the opportunity to see that come to the full Council vote. This is the most pro-housing zoning changes in the city’s history, and thanks to our work, New York City is becoming a City of Yes. This is adding to bringing down the cost of living to the city and building more housing.
We’ve cut the cost of childcare for those who make $55,000 or less a year. From $55 a week, we cut it to less than $5 a week. Thanks to our partnership with those in Albany to help us get this done. We also launched Big Apple Connect to bring free internet and basic television to public housing. A substantial cost that we were able to remove off of their monthly bills. We worked with Albany to expand successfully the New York City Earned Income Tax Credit. Real win. Leroy and Rodneyse played such a significant role in getting this through, and we want to thank the assemblyman and the senator, assemblywoman and the senator at the same time. And thanks to our work, we put money back into the pockets of New Yorkers.
Over $345 million back into the pockets of working class people using various means. Everything from reduced MetroCard to other areas, but really zeroing in on how do we help working class everyday New Yorkers. On this issue after issue, the city is leading the nation. What we do today, other cities and countries are following. We know that New Yorkers need even more relief, and they need it now. And so today, we are going to help deliver it to them.
We are unveiling Axe the Tax for Working Class, a bold proposal to eliminate income taxes for hundreds of thousands of working class New Yorkers and their families here in the five boroughs. That’s right. We are going to Axe the Tax. This ambitious plan will eliminate city income taxes for more than 429,000 people and their dependents and cut taxes for another 152,000 more. Altogether, it will put more than $63 million back into the pockets of over 582,000 New Yorkers and give hundreds of dollars back to working class families across the five boroughs. That’s a $63 million tax bill that hardworking New Yorkers won’t have to worry about.
We are going to rip up the tax bill and make sure that they can put the money back into their pocket. This is going to go to retail workers. Yeah, you can applaud for that. This is the bill we’re ripping up. That’s for retail workers and single mothers, because here in New York, we raise families and we lower taxes. And when you put it together, when you combine our Axe the Tax plan with the New York City Earned Income Tax Credit, we helped expand with our partners in Albany, we’ll have put more than $400 million back into the pockets of over 2 million New Yorkers.
Then when you add it with looking at the medical debt that we’re looking towards alleviating for New Yorkers. It’s just a continuous way of creatively finding ways to put money back into the pockets of New Yorkers. This is how you get stuff done. But as I stated, we can’t do it alone. Hats off to the co-sponsors of this bill, Senator Comrie and Assemblymember Bichotte Hermelyn. Really want to thank them. They’re working class lawmakers that continue to look out for working class New Yorkers. So we say to Albany, Axe the Tax, let’s make sure we put this money back into the pockets of New Yorkers. Thank you again.
First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thats right I think they’re excited about axing the tax, we are too. Because we know affordability is not just a challenge here in New York, we know this is a national issue, right? Rents and everyday costs have risen. But what we have been so focused on since the start of this administration is making sure that we’re not just wringing our hands about these challenges, but we’re really using every tool that we have in order to combat this challenge.
And we spend every day, all day, every day, really listening to the many residents who are struggling to pay their bills, to providers offering critical support services. And so many stakeholders and advocates who are bringing these needs to light. And that is why this proposal is so important. Let me just take a second to reiterate what the mayor said about the Axe the Tax for the working class proposal. So it will eliminate city personal income taxes for more than 429,000 New Yorkers. It will lower taxes for another 152,000, putting 63 million back into the pockets of working class New Yorkers. Now these are hundreds of millions of dollars when you combine with the expanded EITC program that we want to make sure get spent in neighborhoods, get spent so that New Yorkers don’t have to make the choice that too often they do between making rent or potentially fearing eviction, right?
Between buying food or going hungry. Between paying for prescriptions or risking their health. These are the choices we want to make sure New Yorkers don’t make. And that’s why this proposal is so critical. And when you combine it with the back-to-back records on affordable housing, the historic budget on affordable housing, the transformative investments in NYCHA, all of the work that we are doing to create jobs in this city, including with generational projects like the Willets Point project, which we will be with many of you with later on this afternoon, or the historic work at the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, bringing job fairs to communities across the city through JobsNYC, back-to-back records for MWBEs, and so many other programs to bring relief, like the medical debt program that the mayor mentioned.
This list is long, but this has been our mission since day one due to the mayor’s leadership, and we’re so happy to continue that in partnership with everyone on this stage. And so now it is my pleasure to introduce a leader, not just in labor, but really in our city, who has been such a true champion for working people, the president of HTC, Rich Maroko. HTC.
Richard Maroko, President, Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, AFL-CIO: Good morning. I’m Rich Maroko, president of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, and look, I just want to emphasize that this policy is another list of long policies that are designed to tangibly and in concrete ways improve the lives of working people, right?
This is exactly what you would expect from a blue-collar mayor and a blue-collar administration, one that cares about and focuses on the real needs of working New Yorkers. And look, as union members, we have the luxury of being able to band together to fight for living wages and affordable benefits. But for tens of thousands of New Yorkers and working families, they’re forced to rely on minimum wages, and that is simply not enough to be able to put a roof above your head and to put food on your table.
They need help, and they need help now. And they need tangible help. They can’t wait. And this proposal will do just that. It will ease the economic burden on working families so that they are able to continue to afford to live in the city where they work. And these are the types of policies that we should all support. So thank you, Mayor. Thank you, Deputy Mayor, for putting forth this policy. We’re in full support of it because it is the right thing to do for working New Yorkers. Thank you, everybody.
First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, Rich. As the mayor mentioned, we can’t do this alone. And so on this stage, our incredible partners, including the heads of the various agencies who are here today and our amazing budget director, Jacques Jiha, who doesn’t always come to these announcements. And so you know it’s a very important one when Budget Director Jacques Jiha is here. But they spend every day thinking about what it means to make the types of investments that actually improve the lives of New Yorkers. And so I want to thank them. We have partners here from FPWA, as well as Times Square Alliance, and so many others who are partners in this mission.
But this proposal requires the type of leadership that we have and partnership that we have enjoyed from leaders in Albany. And so it is my pleasure to introduce first one of those leaders who’s been a true champion and partner with us on so many different programs and initiatives, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn.
State Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn: Good morning. HTC! I am so delighted to be here. My name is Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. I represent parts of Brooklyn, the 42nd Assembly District, and it is just so a delight to be home here with the Hotel Trade Council and our friends at 32BJ. To announce this important, important plan with our champion, the blue collar mayor, Mayor Eric Adams. Let’s give Mayor Eric Adams fighting for the people’s right.
I want to thank Rich Maroko also for being here and allowing us to be here. This is home to me. I’m extremely excited because the working class tax relief plan in total would cut, as you heard, would cut New York City taxes for over 582,000 New Yorkers returning $63 million and cut the New York State taxes of $552 million, putting $55 million back into the pockets of the family. That’s a total of 118. You heard the mayor.
We want to take this bill up to Albany, not only to do New York City, but we want to do the whole state, right? But it takes a city like this to be the pioneer in making sure that we address the working families and the needs. I am here at the halls of the Hotel Trades Union, which is a membership that will also greatly benefit from this plan. I know this firsthand through my late mother, who was a member of this hotel, this great union, and although she worked many years and she benefited from this great union with the activism of workers’ rights and making sure that we get quality benefits, we know that a lot of the incomes still needs to go a long way for many, many thousands of people who don’t have the opportunity to have unions like HTC and 32BJ to fight for them.
My mother was raising four kids on her own. It was very, very difficult. Imagine if she just had a little bit more, just a little bit of more. That little bit of more could have pushed us a lot further, but we did what we can, and it’s still not too late, because that little bit of more can help millions and hundreds and thousands of New Yorkers. Despite the extraordinary progress that we have made in creating a safer and more [affordable] city for New Yorkers, we know that even more we can do support of our working class families. Mayor Adams’ Axe the Tax proposal, let’s say it again, [chanting], along with the historic expansion of the New York City Earned Income Tax Credit that we advocated for, will give hundreds of millions of dollars back to New Yorkers and help even more families get ahead in our city.
This much needed working class tax relief plan will set the stage in helping those economic gap amongst New Yorkers. I applaud the mayor and his entire team for putting forward this ambitious idea and excited to get it done through the working class family tax plan bill and look forward to sponsoring this bill with my colleague in the senate, Leroy Comrie, and making sure that this become law in this upcoming legislative year. Thank you so much, Mayor Adams, thank you.
First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you so much, assemblymember. And finally, I’d like to call up another leader in Albany, tireless fighter for working people, State Senator Leroy Comrie.
State Senator Leroy Comrie: Good morning. I’m proud to be here today, I’m proud to work on this issue with, alongside my colleague in Albany, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, I gotta get that, it’s not easy to say when your throat is already dry. But I’m proud to be here today, you’ve heard the statistics, this is an important relief for working class people, with the child care credit and hopefully with the expansion of the Fair Fares program, we can give working class people a real opportunity to save some money that they’re going to spend in the city.
This money is going to be recycled into the city, it’s going to increase opportunities for them to do the basic things that they need to do to improve their quality of life. So I’m not going to repeat all the statistics, other than I’m saying I’m proud to work with this administration, I’ve been proud as a legislator working along with the assemblymember to pass significant bills to help city residents and to save the city money, as we just did alternative delivery, which is going to save the city millions of dollars in contracts and other opportunities.
But eliminating this PITT on a city level and on a state level is critical for working class families. So I’m proud to be here at HTC, thank you, this is my first time here in a minute, I’ve got to come back more often because we need to work together with HTC and 32BJ to continue to find ways to save money for our working class families that are being pushed into wanting to leave the city. I was just on the phone, the reason I was late, I was trying to help somebody with getting their gas turned back on. We’ve got a lot of people that are struggling with utilities.
Every week I have a utility, every Tuesday in my office we have Utility Tuesdays because things are just that bad, where I have working people that can’t afford to pay their bills and maintain their homes because they’re being buried under bills. So this is a great opportunity, that’s why when I got the call and was asked to do this and I found out who my partner in government would be, I was truly excited. So thank you, Mr. Mayor, you are a working class mayor, you’ve been a great mayor, your administration has done some very extraordinary things to make sure that this city continues to run and I’m proud to work with you and continue to stand with you on the things that are important to improve our city. Thank you all.
First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: Thank you. So in order to qualify for this particular relief, a family would need at least one dependent and the income below 150 percent of the federal poverty threshold or have income that’s $5,000 above that level for the phase-out benefit so that there is no cliff.
So what does that mean in real life, that this is a family, if you have two adults and three children, making at most about $55,000, with two children, $46,000, one child, $37,000. And so with these income levels, we really see these are families in particular in New York who need the most help and who need the most relief and we’re really happy to target this particular proposal to those families.
The way we see this is the $63 million that will be back in the pockets of New Yorkers, that’s the cost. But really for us, it’s an investment, right, in those families because as the senator mentioned, these are dollars that will be put back into the economy. So for us, it’s a wise investment that we are able to make because of the incredible fiscal stewardship led by the mayor and the budget director over the course of the last few years.
Question: Just to be clear, there isn’t going to be another tax that’s going to try to replace this revenue?
First Deputy Mayor Torres-Springer: No, not in this case.
December 4, 2024
Sources: NYC.gov , Midtown Tribune
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