Cuomo and de Blasio disagree over whether New York City needs the rich

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and that state's biggest city's mayor, Bill de Blasio, cannot seem to agree on whether New York City should have wealthy people in it or not. De Blasio said the city doesn't need the rich, while Cuomo has begged them to come back.

Cuomo has offered to buy drinks for the wealthy who fled the city during the outbreak of the coronavirus, but de Blasio is bent on putting a heavier tax on the wealthy, saying that the city's policies need to be centered around "working people."

De Blasio emphasized his position in a recent press conference, saying: "We do not make decisions based on the wealthy few. This city is for New Yorkers. This city is for people who live here, work here, fight to make this place better, fight through this crisis." He added that there are a number of wealthy New Yorkers who are true believers in the city, and then there are fair-weather friends.

"But we must build our policies around working people. And if our federal government fails us and doesn't provide a stimulus, we should immediately return in Albany to the discussion of a tax on wealthy New Yorkers, de Blasio said.

"Because as we see from the stock market, while everyone else is suffering, the rich are getting richer, and it's time to look that in the face and say, you know what, wealthy New Yorkers can afford to pay a little bit more so that everyone else can make it through this crisis."

At a press conference of his own, Cuomo had a message to legislators to absolutely not raise taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers. He said that one percent of the New York City population pays 50 percent of the taxes. "And they're the most mobile people on the globe," Cuomo said.

Cuomo wants wealthy New Yorkers to come back, de Blasio appears to want to alienate them.

Thousands of New York City residents fled New York City earlier this spring when the pandemic was ramping up, moving to their second homes or purchasing new homes, The Daily Mail reported.

The fear that Governor Andrew Cuomo has is that many of those wealthy New Yorkers who have already left will not be returning to the city at all.

Cuomo emphasized the reality that New York City could fall into economic ruin if the wealthy do not return to the city, and de Blasio's threat to place a heavy tax on the wealthy is surely not going to attract those with money back to the city.