ATLANTA — As the coronavirus pandemic continues to sweep through the country, we are starting to see how this virus is forcing people in charge to make unpopular decisions.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has defended the fact that he is making out-of-state medical workers pay taxes as if they lived in New York full time.
Channel 2 anchor Jorge Estevez checked in with Vanessa Warner, a Georgia nurse who has been sharing her journey taking care of coronavirus patients in New York City for weeks and the messages of hope she’s been receiving from strangers.
Now she is sharing her thoughts on paying New York State income tax even though she lives in Georgia and went up there to help save lives.
"I am here to help them. And if that’s in a monetary way, I would be a hypocrite to say that monetary help doesn't help,” Warner said.
[PHOTOS: Traveling nurse shares thank you letters and pictures from patients in NYC]
In fact, she cites all the donations she's received, with some strangers even donating money to the medical workers staying in her hotel.
"I want to believe that in my heart of hearts that is going to be something that hopefully the officials and tax people do the right thing with the money that they are taxing our pay checks with," Warner said.
But not everyone agrees with her. Some of her colleagues are pointing out that their job on the front line puts their lives at risk and getting taxed for it makes no sense.
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"We are all making the sacrifices -- some of us with our lives. And that is the example that they gave. Somebody paid to come here to save someone’s life. Literally came here and worked a full day and passed away and she is still going to get whatever her last paycheck was. She is going to pay state income tax, like, what an atrocity,” Warner said.
Cuomo cites a loss of $13 billion for his state so far because of COVID-19.
"He would love to do a lot of things but at this point he doesn't see the ability to forgive that kind of money. Maybe down the road. But does that makes sense to you?” Estevez asked Warner.
“If ultimately that financially, they are taking a little bit out of my paycheck to help the people of New York, which is what I am here to do, help the people of New York, that's my position on it,” Warner said.
Channel 2 Action News checked, and the tax rate can range from 4% to almost 9%. The average traveling nurse in New York State can make more than $50 an hour.
That means those nurses can see a deduction ranging from $2 less an hour to almost $5 less an hour.
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