De Blasio Takes Liberal Agenda to National Audience

Following in the footsteps of his predecessor, Michael Bloomberg, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used a two-day speaking tour to promote his agenda to a national audience and to raise his own profile, reports Capital New York.

The mayor, who has joined with MSNBC host Al Sharpton to lead the call for national criminal justice reforms, was in Omaha, Nebraska to push for an increase in the minimum wage, as well as a national legislation mandating businesses provide paid leave for their workers.

"There are no red wages or blue wages. People need decent wages," de Blasio told an audience at the University of Nebraska.

Participating in a lecture series sponsored by the university, de Blasio decried the lack of political leaders of either party who are willing to address issues related to poverty and income inequality.

"Lord knows, fewer and fewer of our leaders are willing to say the word 'poor,' " said de Blasio, according to The Omaha World-Herald.

Earlier this year, the mayor suggested to New York business owners that they voluntarily raise wages, a message he brought to Nebraska and Iowa, where he will be speaking today.

The same day as de Blasio was touting his proposals on income inequality, his office released copies of his 2014 tax returns, which showed he earned $217,656 in adjusted gross income during his first year as mayor, according to Newsday.

The figure includes $65,750 in rental income from two homes that he and his wife own in New York City.

After deductions, de Blasio and his wife, Chirlane McCray, paid $44,130 in federal, city, and state taxes at an effective tax rate of 20.3 percent, according to the joint return. The first couple gave $7,215 to charity.

His speaking tour and renewed focus on liberal economic policies has met with some skepticism among some Democrats who see the effort as a way to increase his profile.

Bill Daley, former chief of staff to President Barack Obama, believes de Blasio just "wants to be a big shot," and should concentrate on solutions that are "doable, not just, 'we want the wealthy to be taxed more so we can spend their money somehow.' "

"Something specific that's urban related," he added. "Not just something amorphous, like 'the progressive agenda.' "

After his speech on Wednesday, de Blasio told reporters that he planned to meet with progressive leaders next month in Washington "to put forward an organized plan around tax fairness and progressive taxation" and said he was confident "a lot of progressives will buy into it."

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