Andrew Rein, president of the Citizens Budget Commission, called the planned tax hikes “economically risky and fiscally unnecessary” as the state has received $12.6 billion in cash from President Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID response plan that Schumer has said is enough to balance the budget.

“The simple truth is we have $22 billion more than the state expected when the budget was proposed in January — $22 billion over the next two years,” he said, according to the New York Post. “That’s almost $1 billion a month.”