TESTIMONY: NYS Joint Legislative Budget Hearing on Taxes

Joint Legislative Budget Hearing: Taxes

Testimony of Communications Workers of America, District 1
Thursday February 26th, 2026

My name is Mia McDonald, I’m the Deputy Legislative of Communications Workers of America District 1. Thank you to Senate Finance Committee Chair Liz Krueger and Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair J. Gary Pretlow for considering our testimony regarding making New York’s tax system fairer for working people.

Communications Workers of America District 1 represents 145,000 workers in 200 CWA local unions in New York, New Jersey, New England, and eastern Canada. CWA members work in telecommunications, health care, higher education, manufacturing, broadcast and cable television, commercial printing and newspapers, and state, local, and county government. District 1 represents 65,000 members in New York State.

Under the federal “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA), nearly one million New Yorkers could lose insurance coverage without state intervention. Without state action, 750,000 New Yorkers could lose Medicaid coverage, 450,000 New Yorkers could lose coverage under the Essential Plan, and 350,000 could lose SNAP benefits. These losses could total $5.8 billion in FY27 and up to $14.3 billion by FY30, and the effects stemming from New Yorkers losing coverage will have dire consequences for the entire healthcare system. 

Under the same bill, the wealthiest New Yorkers will only get wealthier: New Yorkers earning over $1 million annually will receive a collective $12 billion per year in federal tax breaks under the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”. The modest increases that we are proposing are increases the wealthiest New Yorkers can afford. Additionally, corporations will also continue to benefit from the enormous tax cuts made under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act during the President’s first term.

For most New Yorkers, however, the affordability crisis is worsening. The average New Yorker pays $22 thousand per year in childcare. We support creating a permanent funding source to achieve universal childcare and ensure childcare workers are paid a livable wage.

In order to cover the federal cuts and fund universal childcare, we must raise revenue by taxing the wealthiest New Yorkers and most profitable corporations. CWA supports legislation that would raise significant revenue including S953 / A1971 Kelles, which would raise taxes on corporations making over $5 million in profit. This would impact a tiny percentage of businesses in New York: as of 2020, fewer than 0.14% of corporations reached $1 million in profits. CWA also supports S4437 Gounardes / A5435 Solages, which would add new tax rates for the wealthiest New Yorkers making more than $5 million and $25 million per year, impacting 0.3% of taxpayers. 

Finally, New York has the highest level of income inequality in the country. A more progressive tax structure is not only about raising revenue to fund the services we need but about leveling the playing field and narrowing the gap between the wealthiest and the working class. The rise in the concentration of power in the United States we are seeing now is a direct result of the inequality that has been allowed to sky rocket, not in small part due to our tax structure. The labor movement knows this fight well, as unions have historically fought to strengthen workers’ collective power both in and outside of the workplace and shift where this power lies. 

Thank you again for the opportunity to testify. We urge the legislature to include progressive revenue raisers in their FY27 one-house budgets.