PTR News Release: Circuit Breaker

[dgriffin]

From the New York State Property Tax Reform (PTR) Coalition. The NYS PTR is a group that advocates the "circuit breaker" measure and not the property tax cap advanced by the new governor. A recent development on that front has been action and support of the Circuit Breaker by Senator John Bonacic (Ulster, Orange, Sullivan counties.) While the previous proposal by PTR was to fund the C.B. using money from the now suspended Star Check program (not STAR or Enhanced STAR), that money is now lost and the new proposal is to fund the C.B. with the current tax on those making more than a million dollars per year.


Dear PTR Advocates,

About Coalition and Omnibus meetings with legislators in past weeks:

• Funding and enacting the circuit breaker have been our main focus this session.

• We support extending for 2 years the tax on individuals making $1 million-plus in taxable income per legislation being introduced by Senator John Bonacic (Ulster, Orange, Sullivan). This would fund the circuit breaker and restore some school aid cuts.

• While @ 70% of New Yorkers say they support Cuomo, they disagree with key parts of his program. For example, substantial majorities support the "millionaires tax" that Cuomo opposes, and oppose major school aid cuts that Cuomo wants. Many oppose cuts in local services like programs for seniors and disabled, for infrastructure maintenance. Likewise, many oppose increases in student/teacher ratios, school closings, dramatic cuts in law enforcement and fire fighting, etc.


Coalition outlook for this session and for a property tax relief circuit breaker:

• This year is an uphill battle.

• Senator Bonacic's brave push to fund the CB must get the support of Hudson Valley and Upstate senators and especially Republican senators throughout the state since the majority party controls the senate agenda - which determines whether a bill gets to the floor for a vote.

• While there's always a chance, we're frankly not expecting support from the necessary majority of Republican senators.


What we need to do now:

• Express outrage with Republican and Democratic senators, our own and those representing any and all districts in the state if they do not support Bonacic's bill. Their opposition protects millionaires at the expense of the middle-class.

• Express outrage at Assembly Democrats (and Republicans) for limiting the "millionaires tax" extension to only one year and for failing to allocate any of that to circuit breaker relief.

• Express outrage at the Assembly and Senate for once again doing NOTHING (so far) for property tax relief.


Summary:

• While we have a strong moral and political argument, the mood in Albany is for cutting spending and cutting income taxes for the wealthy. Therefore, the financial burden is again pushed down to LOCAL taxes, to cover the income tax shortfall.

• As the impact of Cuomo's fiscal policies begins to affect New Yorkers, there'll be a backlash. We're already seeing it, but it will probably be too late to affect this budget enactment.


What next:

• We'll push for funding the CB - Bonacic's bill in the Senate - over the coming 2 weeks or until the budget is approved. The budget is expected on time, by April 2.

• We'll see if there's property tax relief or not and consider our options at that time. (The legislature will remain in session until June, but enactment of spending bills is less likely once the budget is in place.)

• Cuomo's property tax cap (which is not part of the budget) will be debated and likely enacted, probably with modifications, during the April-June timeframe. Remember, the cap will not reduce individual property taxes. It will only cap the tax levy. Individual bills will likely increase substantially. The cap will provide no protection against assessment increases, for example, and it will exempt previously approved school construction spending, at a minimum. The cap remains popular because it's confusing: people believe it will cap their taxes. Alas, they're in for a most unwelcome surprise.


Our best,

Carole Kraus
John Whiteley


Co-founders

NY State Property Tax Reform Coalition

www.nyspropertytaxreform.org

[e-mail]

646.522.9858

[Deleted]

ALBANY -- Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo won't take office for two weeks, but two of the state's most powerful public-employee unions yesterday fired a salvo against the Democrat's marquee proposal to cap property taxes.

The labor-backed advocacy group New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness launched a blistering broadside against Cuomo's bid to limit local property-tax increases at 2 percent annually, dismissing the proposal as "a coward's way" to address the soaring levies.

"Tax caps make a nice sound bite, but they are not sound policy," said Ron Deutsch, the group's director.

"The Cuomo cap would institutionalize the current inequities in school funding . . . and do little more than guarantee that property taxes will continue to rise.

"It's as if he is creating the perfect storm to decimate the services that so many New Yorkers rely on," Deutsch said.

The group, whose sponsors include New York State United Teachers, 1199 SEIU and the Civil Service Employees Association, backs a $1.3 billion alternative relief plan paid for, in part, by renewing a soon-to-expire tax hike on the rich.

The attack provides the latest evidence that getting the cap passed could be Cuomo's first big political fight. It follows complaints by mayors and county executives who said any proposal should include efforts to cut state-mandated government costs.

Kenneth Adams, president of the Business Council of New York, said failing to pass a cap would be "a disaster for New York's economy."

"Groups tied to the teachers and public-employee unions are calling for a 'circuit breaker' rather than a tax cap," he said. "That would simply shift New York's unbearable property-tax burden from some taxpayers to others. It's a gimmick."

Three quarters of the state's voters support Cuomo's plan, according to a Siena poll released Monday. The cap would have no impact on New York City.

Individually, groups like NYSUT have adopted a friendlier approach, pledging to "work with" Cuomo to find a compromise.

A Cuomo spokesman called the cap a "cornerstone" to the governor-elect's agenda.

"New Yorkers' property taxes cannot continue to increase at the same astronomical rate they have over the past decade," said the spokesman, Josh Vlasto. "New Yorkers can no longer afford it, and families are being driven out of their homes and out of the state."



Read more: www.nypost.com/p/news/local/unions_rip_coward_cuomo_over_tax_AzuUKiyRGgZSO9EYJwiTEN#ixzz1GstQ2tro

[dgriffin]

The real problem is spending. Neither the tax cap or the circuit breaker attack that problem and so conservative (with a small "c") thinkers like neither solution.

Public employee unions, such as the teachers, are afraid a cap would result in larger class sizes and other measures that would make their life difficult, plus apply pressure to curb the unions' compensation appetites. They favor the Circuit Breaker because it would get taxpayers off their back when the state reimburses citizens through the tax system, the state thereby kicking in for the extra local spending.

I would favor (other than spending cuts) the circuit breaker because I'm a retiree on a fixed income and after the circuit breaker amount is reached I'd be immune to more property tax increases. But the devil will be in the details and if I know New York State a lot of words will be lavished on a provision that will probably give me no relief at all. The last C.B. proposal I saw would result in lower taxes for me, but still 5 times more than I'd pay down south on the same property.