Progressives chased Amazon’s headquarters away from New York — now they’re trying to pile new taxes on firms that are still here, critics charge.

Already grappling with among the nation’s highest tax and regulatory burdens, Big Apple businesses could get socked with a new kiddie care tax being proposed by Democrats running Albany.

The legislation proposed by state Sen. Jessica Ramos (D-Queens) would dramatically expand child care services for infants and toddlers under 3.

To pay for “The NY Under 3 Act” the new payroll tax would range from .015 percent for businesses with payrolls between $625,000 and $1.25 million, .018 percent for payrolls above $1.25 million and below $2.5 million and .022 percent on those with payrolls over $2.5 million.

“The average annual tax bill for all covered firms would be approximately $40,000 — or about $250 per employee per year-and would initially raise an estimated $626 million per year to fund what is the largest local expansion of child care assistance for families with children under 3 in the nation,” Ramos said in a memo explaining her bill.

The bill includes language that would bar employers from passing on the costs to their workers.

Ramos said the tax hike would finance a plan unveiled by city Comptroller and mayoral candidate Scott Stringer to triple the number of child care slots in the city.

And if the bill passes next year it would surely put Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the spot.

Ramos told the Post Monday she intends to make the child care tax bill a top priority in the 2020 legislative session. The legislature reconvenes in January.

Asked if she could get the tax bill through the Democratic-run Senate and Assembly, Ramos said, “I’m going to work my hardest. That’s it.”

But the city’s top business group threw cold water on the idea.

“Child care is an important issue, but we already have a payroll tax that funds the MTA. The better way to pay for new entitlements is to calculate how many parents will be able to go to work if they have access to child care and what the taxes they start paying will add to the state revenue budget,” said Kathryn Wylde, president and CEO of the New York City Partnership.

“It is easy to propose a new tax, but wiser to figure out how to avoid one,” added Wylde, who backed the aborted plan for Amazon to open a new east coast campus in Long Island City, Queens.

But Ramos said the payrolls tax was a worthy investment given the dire need for government-backed child care services and the dearth of slots available.

“In New York City and across the nation, access to stable and affordable child care is a basic need. Child care not only increases job stability and economic security but also sets the foundation for children’s future learning,” she said.

“That said, child care imposes a large and growing cost on working families, particularly those with low incomes,” Ramos said.

Space in a city child care center costs an average $21,000 for an infant and there’s a long-waiting list.

“The high cost of care combined with inadequate public support, especially for infants and toddlers, has created a real crisis,” Ramos said.

Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif said while boosting child care is a laudable goal “Why is the Senate Democrat answer to everything always new and higher taxes?”