Did Cuomo raise taxes on the rich?

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UPDATE 1-NY Gov raises taxes on rich, gives middle-class cuts

Dec 6 (Reuters) - New York's millionaires will pay higher taxes while 4.4 million middle-class and upper-income New Yorkers will get tax cuts under a reform plan the governor and legislature unveiled on Tuesday.

The new top income tax rate for those who earn more than $2 million will rise to 8.82 percent. Without the agreement, this rate would have fallen to 6.85 percent from the current top rate of 8.97 percent because a surcharge expires this year.

The pact, which still must be approved by both houses of the legislature, cuts the current rate for those who earn $40,000 to $150,000 a year to 6.45 percent from 6.85 percent.

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Those who earn $150,000 to $300,000 will pay a 6.65 percent rate, down from 6.85 percent. Those whose yearly incomes run from $300,000 to $2 million will all pay 6.85 percent, down from the current range of 7.85 percent to 8.97 percent.

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The current top tax rates range from 7.85 percent to 8.97 percent for incomes from $300,000 and up. Those with incomes of $2 million are taxed at the highest rate.

Under this agreement, incomes from $300,000 to $2 million will see their tax rates drop 6.85 percent (a 1 percent to 2.1 percent drop). Those with incomes will see their rates drop from 8.97 to 8.62 (.35 percent drop), but that doesn't stop the media from selling this across-the-board tax cut as a tax increase on the wealthy.

Here's the NYT headline: Cuomo Strikes Deal to Raise Taxes on the Wealthiest

The agreement also doesn't make up the budget shortfall, raising only $1.9 billion when $3.5 billion is need.