ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Gov. Andrew Cuomo is opposed to letting individual municipalities set their own minimum wages and tax rates, as New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio wants to do.
Cuomo says “we don’t want to have different cities with different tax rates” or different wage laws competing among each other for business because it could “cannibalize” the state economy.
He tells the The Capitol Pressroom that states compete that way economically, but he doesn’t believe it would be “productive,” with each city trying to steal business from the others.
Labor and community advocates rallying in Albany say cities in California, New Mexico, Washington and Maryland have successfully used similar authority to raise their minimum wages and improve their economies and workers’ circumstances.
Albany lawmakers must sign off on de Blasio’s hopes to raise the minimum wage for city residents and for the centerpiece of his agenda: a tax hike on the rich to fund universal pre-kindergarten.
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