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To the editor:
Yes, "EMS pay parity would cost city $1.2 billion a year over five years." (Oct. 23 Chief). That amounts to $240 million a year.
You can be sure that the cost of other items in the city budget rise more than that. But it is always the cost of providing fair pay for city workers that is highlighted.
Unfortunately, Mayor Zohan Mamdani does not have the power to increase taxes on the rich. That's in the hands of legislature and the governor on the state level as well as Congress and the President on the federal level.
But despite claims that taxing the rich doesn't work, in fact, it does. That's why there was no problem funding government programs and paying government workers decently back in the 1950s. Workers'
salaries back then were much higher in terms of real money.
But for the time being, that can't be done. That's because so many workers have voted for people whose agenda is to cut taxes for the wealthy while keeping workers' salaries down. Most of the 77
million people who voted for President Donald Trump are actually harmed by his policies.
What's left for Mamdani to do? He must look to cut waste and non-essential items from the city budget to fund good salaries for city workers.
His move to replace the anti-worker Labor Commissioner Renee Campion with Liz Vladeck, who has a union background, as of Dec. 1, is a hopeful sign.
A funeral must be prepared for pattern bargaining. For instance, you can't say everyone must accept an annual raise of 3 percent if some are paid so poorly that wage hike percentages in the
high double figures would be required just to get them out of poverty.
Richard Warren
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Valete
"Excessive tax rates have proven counterproductive. That’s why President Kennedy proposed sweeping tax cuts—later signed by President Johnson—to stimulate a stagnant U.S. economy and revive capital investment. Without capital to fund capitalism, the social safety net dies.
Even Scandinavia recognized this reality: the majority of Nordic countries repealed their wealth taxes after discovering they triggered massive capital flight while yielding minimal revenue. Because economics is a social science, trial and error remains our greatest test."
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