Post by dgriffin on Apr 17, 2009 15:44:24 GMT -5
A FAQ from the NY State Property Tax Reform Coalition, who are/ were pushing for the Circuit Breaker Tax Relief legislation. Note the first bullet, as well as the bolded paragraph.
In answer to frequently asked questions:
• Only the STAR REBATE CHECK program, which functioned for 2 years, has been repealed by our legislature.
• The Basic and Enhanced STAR, in effect since the 1990s, remain untouched.
• The NYS PTR Coalition advocates funding the middle-income circuit breaker with the STAR rebate check program money (leaving Basic and Enhanced STAR untouched), a nearly neutral impact on the state budget.
• While the STAR rebate checks (in contrast to Basic STAR) at least established three income ranges that helped determine the amount of the benefit, the formula still basically ignored the size of the tax bill, like the rest of STAR. Thus, everyone within a given school taxing district and income range received the same dollar amount. A $300 check is helpful for a $600 school tax bill, but does little to soften a $6000 hit.
• Only the circuit breaker deals meaningfully with those who are paying double-digit percentages of their income -- as much as 48% -- to pay their property tax and who are arguably at greatest risk of being forced from their homes.
• While few would reject whatever gift horse the state might provide, it made no sense to us to continue what would become looked upon as an entitlement, doled out to everyone regardless of one's property tax burden, when tens of thousands of those truly overburdened by their property tax are barely hanging on.
• Especially in a recession, with real and threatened loss of jobs and income, the circuit breaker is likely to be far more beneficial than the rebate checks for those most severely affected.
• Since the benefits are targeted to those who actually need them, the circuit breaker is significantly more cost effective. (Some recipients of rebate checks were already off the school tax rolls due to their Basic or Enhanced STAR, so got "rebates" for taxes they never paid!)
For more info on the Circuit Breaker we advocate, go to
www.omnibustaxsolution.org
The paragraph above which I bolded interests me, because it seems unlikely that just the money from the STAR Rebate Checks could be enough to fund a Circuit Breaker plan proposed in months past by the NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition. So I wrote them and will post their answer when received. I may be wrong, but the percentages shown in the above url appear different from those I saw a month ago, but my memory isn't as reliable as it used to be.
In answer to frequently asked questions:
• Only the STAR REBATE CHECK program, which functioned for 2 years, has been repealed by our legislature.
• The Basic and Enhanced STAR, in effect since the 1990s, remain untouched.
• The NYS PTR Coalition advocates funding the middle-income circuit breaker with the STAR rebate check program money (leaving Basic and Enhanced STAR untouched), a nearly neutral impact on the state budget.
• While the STAR rebate checks (in contrast to Basic STAR) at least established three income ranges that helped determine the amount of the benefit, the formula still basically ignored the size of the tax bill, like the rest of STAR. Thus, everyone within a given school taxing district and income range received the same dollar amount. A $300 check is helpful for a $600 school tax bill, but does little to soften a $6000 hit.
• Only the circuit breaker deals meaningfully with those who are paying double-digit percentages of their income -- as much as 48% -- to pay their property tax and who are arguably at greatest risk of being forced from their homes.
• While few would reject whatever gift horse the state might provide, it made no sense to us to continue what would become looked upon as an entitlement, doled out to everyone regardless of one's property tax burden, when tens of thousands of those truly overburdened by their property tax are barely hanging on.
• Especially in a recession, with real and threatened loss of jobs and income, the circuit breaker is likely to be far more beneficial than the rebate checks for those most severely affected.
• Since the benefits are targeted to those who actually need them, the circuit breaker is significantly more cost effective. (Some recipients of rebate checks were already off the school tax rolls due to their Basic or Enhanced STAR, so got "rebates" for taxes they never paid!)
For more info on the Circuit Breaker we advocate, go to
www.omnibustaxsolution.org
The paragraph above which I bolded interests me, because it seems unlikely that just the money from the STAR Rebate Checks could be enough to fund a Circuit Breaker plan proposed in months past by the NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition. So I wrote them and will post their answer when received. I may be wrong, but the percentages shown in the above url appear different from those I saw a month ago, but my memory isn't as reliable as it used to be.
