Commentary: Is it time to tax the rich? |
Credit: Getty Images.
The dust has barely settled on the 2025 elections, but the main issue facing the state Legislature for 2026 is already in focus. It will also define the statewide elections next year. The issue is affordability — and it will surely involve taxation.
From Buffalo to Brooklyn, New York voters sent a clear message about the cost of everything from housing, health care and insurance premiums to groceries and a college education: Prices are too high. And voters want their government leaders to do something about it. Now.
Advertisement
Article continues below this ad
A 34-year-old politician rode to victory in the New York City mayoral contest promising to lower costs and pitching free universal child care and public transportation. In Troy, every City Council seat went to Democrats who uttered similar messages about the high cost of living.
However as former Gov. Mario Cuomo famously observed, politicians campaign in poetry but must govern in prose. The campaign poetry was........