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Members of advocacy organizations held rallies across New York state on Monday alongside elected officials to protest low taxes on wealthy people and corporations and call for greater investment in communities.

The rallies, which kicked off the Invest in Our New York Campaign for 2023, took place in New York City, Albany and Mineola. Organizers within the campaign said the rally encompassed causes that directly impact the city of Syracuse, like expanding funding for public childcare and education programs.

Participants also called on legislators to tax those that have benefitted from the COVID-19 pandemic, like Amazon and Netflix, to support childcare, healthcare and mitigating the climate crisis.

“If we want to truly build a New York for all, we need to champion and enact policies that benefit working people,” Carolyn Martinez-Class, the campaign’s coordinator, wrote in a press release. “We can’t keep up the status quo of giving handouts to billionaires at the expense of everyday New Yorkers and expect working-class families to make ends meet. We need real change, now.”

The IONY campaign aims to pass the Invest in Our New York Act, which would raise $50 billion in revenue to support public services and “rebuild our economy” by ending tax breaks for the highest earners in the state, according to their website.

Stevie Vargas, the regional director for non-profit organization Citizen Action of New York, said many large corporations in New York receive benefits from tax breaks that regular citizens don’t get. In Syracuse, she pointed to Micron.

“Micron is developing a chip factory in Syracuse, and they got too much money — a $4 million property tax break — to come to New York state,” Vargas said. “New Yorkers need the same kind of support if we want to recruit employees to even work at Micron.”

Vargas said the addition of thousands of jobs to the central New York economy won’t matter unless there are public support systems in place to help workers, like quality affordable housing and childcare.

She identified Syracuse University’s two daycare centers as examples of childcare systems that support parents who are in school or working, noting that IONY is advocating for increased public funds to expand similar resources.

The campaign looks to highlight the heightened struggles of working-class people in New York during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Millions of New Yorkers are going hungry, have difficulty paying their rent and utilities, and the burden of the effect is more significant for Black and Brown families and those with children,” New York State Senator Robert Jackson said in the press release.

Among the IONY campaign’s outlined demands are billions of dollars in funding for lowering housing costs and addressing climate change. Specifically, the organization is calling for an increase on taxes for New York’s top 5% of earners as well as the creation of an heirs, capital and market-t0-market taxes.

“The goal (of the rallies) is to make everybody in New York state aware that this is happening, that this is possible, and that there is a way to hold those elected accountable and demand that, as our representatives, that this is something that they focus on so that New Yorkers don’t continue to hurt,” Vargas said.

Published on December 7, 2022 at 1:32 am

Contact Stephanie: spwright@syr.edu