We think of progressive taxation, if we think of it at all, as a ten-dollar term for making the rich pay more of their fair share. But Thursday at Noon NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn Member David Yassky, advised by the Drum Major Institute, give it a newer twist: let lower income New Yorkers pay less . Is Ms. Quinn finally turning from the darkside of the Bloomberg Empire?

There are, as it turns out, almost 225,00 very low wage households in New York City in which workers are paying NYC income taxes even though they’re exempt from NY State and Federal tax (because they fall below the State and Federal, but not the NYC, tax minimum.)

Speaker Quinn will propose today to eliminate the income tax on NYC’s lowest income workers at the fairly modest cost to the City of $72 million. This will put, I am told, $321/year on average into the hands of families. That money will be spent immediately, creating a mini-stimulus, and easing the daily life of the most hard-pressed workers.

DMI explains:  read more »