December 21, 2012 The Honorable Andrew M.

Cuomo Governor of New York State NYS State Capitol Building Albany, NY 12224 Dear Governor Cuomo, The people of New York are working to recover from the devastation left in Hurricane Sandy's wake. But as you know, much remains to be done. While some tragic losses can't be mended, we can - and should - do our best to rebuild, to limit the suffering inflicted and the displacement endured, and to do our best to prevent such destruction from natural disasters in the future. In that spirit, I am sure that citizens of New York who faced untold damages on the morning of October 30, were happy to see their Governor fighting for federal disaster relief. In the many weeks since Hurricane Sandy made landfall, you have been in Washington, D.C. lobbying the White House and members of Congress to provide disaster relief assistance for your state. Unfortunately, with this Congress nothing is guaranteed - despite the fact that natural disasters know no political affiliation. The Senate's $60.4 billion Hurricane Sandy relief bill slogs along at an excruciatingly slow pace. For many New Yorkers, the longer they wait to receive those funds, the more their pain is prolonged. You seem to understand this and have been increasing the pressure on Congress to act having been quoted recently saying that "There is no Plan B. Plan B is to go back to Plan A." However, it is curious for you to say this considering that New York does in fact have a Plan B for disaster relief: stop refunding the New York State stock transfer tax. With each purchase of stock, New York collects a tiny tax - pennies per share. New York State then instantly rebates 100% of the tax back to Wall Street. Each year, because of this arcane process, New York loses out on $16 billion of revenue. In the vacuum left by Congress, tapping this could be a significant stopgap measure to help New Yorkers begin to recover - and to recover now: A source of funds. And the ongoing revenue from a stock transfer tax could be used to start the process of establishing storm surge barriers, bulkheads, levees, dikes, and beach strengthening with sand dunes to limit the impact of future hurricanes. I hope you will consider this proposal more seriously this time. New York can't wait. Sincerely,

Ralph Nader P.O. Box 19367 Washington, D.C. 20036 202-387-8030 info@csrl.org

Governor-Elect Andrew Cuomo Church Street Station P.O. Box 683 New York, NY 10008 December 30,2010 Dear Governor-Elect Cuomo: The conditions where many regular New Yorkers live are grim. Poverty, unemployment, home foreclosures, and small business bankruptcies keep growing. On the other side of the tracks, the top twenty-five hedge fund managers recorded an average of $1 billion each, or over $80 million each a month in 2009. Quite a quick rebound on the backs of American taxpayers and privileged tax policies. Low-moderate and middle-income New Yorkers already pay a higher percentage of family income in state and local taxes than do the richest one percent of New Yorkers! The Fiscal Policy Institute wrote in April: "Essential services like fire departments and schools, recession-buffering social safety net programs like homeless prevention and senior services, and critical infrastructure systems like hospitals, roads and mass transit all face severe cutbacks. Surprisingly, there is a simple way to eliminate the $10 billion state deficit and prevent tens of thousands of layoffs and large service cutbacks. What most New Yorkers do not know is that for about a century there has been a tiny state stock transfer tax on purchases of securities. Last year, this tax, similar to ones imposed in 30 other countries, amounted to about $16 billion. Amazingly, since 1979, this tax has been instantly rebated by New York State back to the brokers or clearinghouses who paid it. A 100% rebate every year for the bailed out industry that caused the recession and its immense human damage. Today and everyday New Yorkers pay a 7 or 8 percent sales tax on necessities that they buy in stores. Big buyers of derivatives, for example, pay no sales tax. That is not fair. Obviously the stock exchanges and their brokers wield big political power. Flush with arrogance, bailouts and profits, they have no shame. Mr. Cuomo, think of the deprivation, suffering and unemployment you can prevent by simply keeping the stock transfer tax that the state collects as it did sixty years ago. Sincerely Yours,

Ralph Nader P.O. Box 19312 Washington, DC 20036