December 20, 2018. This article discusses the beginning of Governor Cuomo’s third term and his potential progressive agenda. The Governor laid out his agenda during a press conference a few days ago where he stated that he would use former President and former New York Governor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, as a model for his priorities. He proposed numerous agenda items like implementing the DREAM Act, which allows children of undocumented immigrants to receive college aid, and the legalization of recreational marijuana. However, while many of the proposed items are progressive and would help people across the state, there is simply not enough funding to properly implement them.
Ron Deutsch,with the union-funded think tank Fiscal Policy Institute, said Cuomo will not be able to afford all of the proposals he named in his speech if he does not expand taxes on the wealthy, and add additional, higher brackets for those making over $5 million and $10 million a year. And Deutsch said he disagrees with Cuomo’s assertion that FDR would have agreed with the current governor’s tax policies.
“I don’t think just simply continuing the millionaire’s tax will raise enough revenue to address a lot of the things the governor talked about,” said Deutsch. “He talked about the freedom from want, and there is a good deal of want in the state right now.”
Deutsch said there are nearly 90,000 homeless New Yorkers and three million state residents living under the federal poverty level.