Letter to the editor: Choose heroism

Dear editor, 

Will New York lead with heroism THIS time, like workers did during the pandemic?  

We’ve committed lifetimes, lives, and treasure for an increasingly just, democratic government. Yet Congress lets carmaker Musk remove its wheels and junk it. Congress lets Trump capture the Justice Dept., set cryptocurrency policy to enrich himself, cancel election cybersecurity, threaten allies, scuttle alliances, and give Putin Ukraine. Will resistance generated by Trump and his Congressional puppets provide the excuse he desires to declare martial law?  

A communal response is needed, like that of Americans in the 1770s, when King George III and HIS Parliament of yes-men replaced Massachusetts’ constitutional democracy with dictatorship.

Observe that the office of NY’s Attorney General James is in court with other states to stop the forcing of police to do ICE’s work, and stop freezes, firings, and termination of programs that serve tens of millions and employ hundreds of thousands.  Governor Hochul defies Trump on NY City congestion pricing, and she and AG James rejected Louisiana’s request to extradite the NY doctor it indicted for giving standard reproductive health care to a Louisianan.  

NY can expand the AG’s capacities to defend democratic constitutional government, and to prosecute cases abandoned by the US Justice Dept.

NY’s legislature has prepared laws for a fossil fuels cap-and-invest program, Medicare for All, immigrant protection, and anti-surveillance – we should enact them and take further giant steps.

  Expanded departments can extend regulatory enforcement to areas the Federal government neglects, and work with other states on common issues.

We can replace cuts to Medicaid, education, and some nonprofits.

We can reverse the slide to poverty of poor communities by paying more of their education and Medicaid costs, lowering tax rates on people with small incomes and wealth, and raising NY’s standard deduction.  

The list goes on.

To pay for these, NY should add income tax brackets at $1 million, $10 million, and intervals beyond, adding an additional percent at each step, and raise rates further for people with accumulated wealth of $10 million, $100 million, etc., in similar fashion.  Combined Federal and State income tax rates would still be far below the top Federal income tax level of 1981.  As workers’ share of national productivity has declined for decades, NY’s upper crust have enjoyed deep Federal tax cuts and soaring wealth.  That’s where the money has gone.  The wealthiest can afford modest income tax rises for critical state action.

As we press legislators to act, we should publicly report what we have advocated and to whom, and how legislators have responded.  This may help us replace representatives who shirk important work.  

Our representatives and governor may cringe from raising taxes on the rich, but that action makes many NECESSARY actions possible. Otherwise, how can we stand proudly with AG James this April 19th, the 250th anniversary of the day Massachusetts citizens defended THEIR democratic constitutional order against troops of King George III?  Or at next year’s 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence?

-Tim Lillard, Newfield