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As noted in the Fiscal Policy Institute’s (FPI) latest report, “the New York State Fiscal Year 2027 budget is being negotiated in the wake of one of the most severe cuts to the social safety net seen in our country’s history.” The feds made drastic cuts to healthcare and food assistance for low-income people, while providing more major tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. Yet the governor continues to resist making the wealthy pay their fair share to make up for the federal cuts.
Why? Again quoting the FPI, NY State “continues to benefit from robust tax revenue and strong reserves. Its wealthiest residents continue to enjoy strong income growth.” The governor can maintain essential services; refusing to do so is a political choice. Her budget proposal makes significant investments in expanding childcare access, primarily in New York City, yet it fails to protect the one million New Yorkers at risk of losing health insurance or the 200,000 New Yorkers at risk of losing nutrition assistance.
Key impacts of the 2026 federal cuts on the poor in New York include:
- Medicaid and Healthcare Coverage Losses: An estimated 1.5 million people are becoming uninsured, causing uncompensated care costs to hospitals to rise by over $3 billion annually.
- Reduced Food Assistance (SNAP): More than 300,000 households are projected to lose some or all of their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits due to new work requirements and eligibility restrictions, totaling over $800 million in lost food assistance.
- Noncitizen Food Security: Roughly 41,000 noncitizens in NYS, including refugees and asylees, are expected to lose access to SNAP, amounting to $108 million in lost food benefits.
There is broad public support for taxing the ultra-wealthy and the most profitable corporations. According to recent polling of registered New York voters, 78% support raising taxes on large corporations and the wealthiest 5% of earners to address the tens of billions of dollars in federal funding cuts, with 86% of Democrats, 63% of independents, and 53% of Republicans backing increased taxes on the wealthy and large corporations to fund universal childcare, affordable housing, and public transportation. Support extends across all regions of the state, including 65% upstate.
We don’t need to remain the most inequitable state in the nation. As FPI notes, “despite pessimistic revenue projections at the start of fiscal year 2026, the State took in strong revenue, accruing surplus revenue of $17 billion across FY 2026 and FY 2027…. it is well-positioned to fund ambitious expansions of public services that will make New York more affordable for families.”
NYS can afford to maintain essential services and expand programs addressing affordability. As the Senate and Assembly prepare their one-house budgets, countering Hochul’s proposal, they must address these needs by leveraging new revenue. Please contact your state Senator and Assembly member now, urging them to pass the Invest in Our New York (investinourny.org) package of four bills to raise the necessary funds. These bills would raise tens of billions of dollars through a combination of personal income tax increases on the top 5% of earners, corporate tax reforms targeting the most profitable corporations (fewer than the top 1%), and addressing loopholes that allow millionaires and billionaires to shield their wealth from their tax liability.
Steven Jarose
On behalf of Elders and Allies Rochester
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post.
Wow, even Andrew Cuomo refrained from calling for higher taxes in his last campaign. NY has some of the highest taxed areas in the nation, hard for me to reconcile how Albany taking in more money wouldn’t just contribute to more flight of population away from the State. (Florida can only hold so many New Yorkers) I don’t call work and citizenship requirements “severe cuts to the social safety net”. New York State is going to have enough difficulty back-stopping the pension liabilities of its many rust-belt municipalities, State workers, Erie Canal etc or maintaining many of its haggard school districts that bled enrollment with the population flight. Not to mention cannibalizing the power grid in search of some climate Holy Grail. It doesn’t (and isn’t able) have the economic growth to take on Federal programs made possible by Fed money printing. NYS will be doing well to tread water in the coming decades, we don’t need more incentives for people to leave.