When the state budget was being decided in 2011, Gustavo Rivera was out in front talking about the need to take care of our most vulnerable New Yorkers - seniors and children. When four of the senior centers in his district were in danger of having to close, Gustavo fought to restore funding in the state budget to keep these centers open. Gustavo fought against budget cuts to critical services like medicaid and advocated successfully for a living wage for home health aides. 

This year, Gustavo pushed to make sure that education funding went to the schools that need it the most. Instead of allocating funding for schools through a grant application process, Gustavo worked with education advocates to make sure that the schools that need the resources the most be made a priority. 

Ensuring that Millionaires Pay their Fair Share

Despite being a new legislator, Gustavo led the charge to extend the millionaire’s tax. When Republicans wanted to give millionaires a tax cut to get them to stay in New York, Gustavo fought back, saying it is working class and middle class New Yorkers that cannot afford to stay in New York. Gustavo took the lead in speaking out about the importance of making sure that millionaires pay their fair share.

While the full millionaire’s tax was not extended, last December, Gustavo Rivera voted to create a more progressive tax structure, which means that millionaires will have to pay a greater percentage in taxes than working and middle class families. Taxes in New York State have gone down for the wealthy and stayed the same for the middle class. Passing this legislation was an important step toward making sure that millionaires truly pay their fair share. $1.3 billion in revenue was raised through this more progressive tax system for 2013. Instead of allowing millionaires to get a huge tax break, Gustavo Rivera voted to put over a million dollars into critical services for working families.