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Statement from Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness on Emergency Economic Session:
"This emergency session was a mixed bag for New Yorkers. We applaud the Assembly for its courageous stand on promoting tax fairness rather than tax caps. The Assembly passed a circuit breaker and paid for it with a millionaires tax. Combined, these two policy changes will begin to address the property tax nightmare for many New Yorkers while at the same time beginning to restore some fairness to our income tax structure. For the past 2 decades we have been cutting the top rates of the personal income tax which has disproportionately favored the wealthiest New Yorkers. We now need the Senate and the Governor to get on board the 'tax fairness express' and agree to pass the same legislation as the Assembly."
"The other cuts, passed by both houses, will unfortunately have some very negative and lasting consequences for many New Yorkers living on the margins. To cut CUNY and many other necessary programs serving vulnerable New Yorkers is the wrong move during an economic downturn. As the Governor's Chairman of his recently appointed Panel of Economic Advisors (Joseph Stiglitz) has noted in the past, cutting services during a recession is not the best way for a state to manage a budget crisis. In fact, Mr. Stiglitz would probably agree more with the Assembly's approach of a millionaires tax to help balance the state's books rather than cutting services and taking state dollars out of the local economy. Furthermore, cutting aid to localities at a time when the we are trying to lower the property tax burden is counterintuitive. We need to look at ways to generate revenue by cutting wasteful spending from our budget not essential spending. Conservative and progressive groups alike have called for the elimination of the Empire Zone program which could save us hundreds of millions annually, yet the Governor and the Legislature have unfortunately ignored this approach." |
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contact: Ron Deutsch, Executive Director
office: (518) 452-2130 fax: (518) 869-8649 cell: (518) 469-6769
212 Great Oaks Blvd. Albany, New York 12203 |
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