New York City Communist Mayor Bill de Blasio pushes for taxing the wealthy for pre-K plan in Albany

Comrade de Blasio has been offered state funding for his silly pre K program that would eliminate the need tpo tax NYC’s richest New Yorkers.
  However, being a devout Communist, de Blasio doesn’t want the free cash that would accomplish his campaign promise.  Instead he wants to redistribute the wealth like a good Marxist and tax the Rich anyway.   So it’s not about pre K at all.  Ce Blasio just wants to punish the well healed like every other progressive like to do.   

ABC News reports New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio shared a backslapping hug with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and told lawmakers they had an obligation to allow a tax hike on the city's wealthier residents as he continued pressing for his universal prekindergarten proposal at the state Capitol on Monday. 

De Blasio needs Albany's OK before the city can approve the tax to fund his signature proposal. But Cuomo, a fellow Democrat, has been cool to an election-year tax increase and it was not clear whether the state Legislature would consent. De Blasio used his appearance before a state budget hearing Monday to argue that Albany has the obligation to honor the "city's right to self-determination" by letting taxes on the wealthy be increased.

"We're not asking Albany to raise the state income tax by a single penny to pay for universal pre-K and afterschool programs in New York City," de Blasio told lawmakers. "We're simply asking Albany to allow New York City to tax itself."
De Blasio released a report Monday saying the pre-K program would reach 53,000 children who need it by September and up to 73,000 by the next year. The new mayor says a small increase in the tax rates on New York City residents who make $500,000 or more annually is the only steady, reliable way to cover the $340 million annual cost. Cuomo, stressing his support for statewide universal pre-K, wants to fund it with existing money in the budget.

De Blasio's tax lobbying comes at an unwelcome time for Cuomo, who is promoting a broad tax relief program that includes politically popular property tax freezes. But both men played down suggestions of personal friction Monday. They welcomed each other with a hearty hug at a press event about their shared goal of getting a $10 billion federal Medicaid waiver.

"This is someone I've have had the honor of working with for almost 20 years," de Blasio said. "So I hope people understand when there's this depth of personal relationship, that we talk about a variety of issues all the time."

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