This quote below nails the problem right on the head. It makes you wonder who’s voices are being heard in Albany and it is surely not ours. The tax burden on New Yorkers grows every year as our legislators sit comfortably in their gerrymandered districts unaccountable even to the electorate. But, the influence and the buying off of Albany politicos has been destroying our economy while the unions and all their benefits have been flourishing. I am sure we will be hearing all the union dues funded commercials about how are children are going suffer, the elderly will starve and that this will cause millions more to be without health care and food. I dispise budget time almost as much as political commercials.
It’s a simple concept that economists and New Yorkers from Hicksville to Niagara Falls figured out ages ago. But it has been a third rail for state politicians, most of whom are seen as beholden to public employee unions and the easy votes that increases in school aid can provide.
The New York State United Teachers union immediately called a tax cap “problematic in concept and disastrous in practice.”
Spitzer takes taboo route to cut property taxes
ALBANY, N.Y. – For more than a decade, New York state’s elected officials in floor debates and campaigns have loudly and proudly taken on one of New York’s biggest problems _ high property taxes.
And for more than a decade, they made it worse.
Gov. Eliot Spitzer, however, is now proposing what was long thought impossible. He wants to cap local property taxes, primarily by addressing spending by school districts, which account for 70 percent of property tax bills. He sees that as the way to end the days of tax bills rising faster than student achievement, despite billions of dollars in extra state subsidies to schools to relieve taxes and in rebate checks mailed to taxpayers at election time.
It’s a simple concept that economists and New Yorkers from Hicksville to Niagara Falls figured out ages ago. But it has been a third rail for state politicians, most of whom are seen as beholden to public employee unions and the easy votes that increases in school aid can provide.
The New York State United Teachers union immediately called a tax cap “problematic in concept and disastrous in practice.”
“It will be important to ensure that any tax relief proposals fairly reflect the state’s commitment to ensuring all children those who live in poverty as well as those who are advantaged receive the quality public education they deserve,” said NYSUT President Richard C. Iannuzzi. The union has 585,000 members and is one of Albany’s biggest campaign contributors and lobbyists.
Such “it’s-for-the-kids” arguments have helped secure billions of dollars, even in tough economic times. But Spitzer is now arguing that once the kids get out of school, they are increasingly being forced into exile, taking jobs away from their hometowns and families, away from New York. He said high property taxes that have driven away employers is a big part of the reason.
“We need to start getting real about our property tax crisis,” Spitzer said in Wednesday’s State of the State speech. “Wherever I go, I hear the same thing: Property taxes are too high. We cannot grow if property taxes continue to force young people out of the state and our seniors out of their homes. Together, we have tried to address this crisis.”
var sc_project=1609654; var sc_invisible=0; var sc_partition=15; var sc_security=”26e26d49″;
