Assemblyman applauds property tax relief and tax cut for manufacturers to create jobs; pans publicly financed “welfare for politicians” pilot program and lack of mandate relief

Assemblyman Jim Tedisco (R,C,I-Glenville) today said the 2014-15 New York State Budget is a mixed bag for taxpayers and offered what he believes is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly on the state’s annual financial plan.

“This year’s state budget has the good, the bad and the ugly in it. It’s good the state is going to provide some modest tax relief for overburdened homeowners and small businesses but it’s bad there’s no mandate relief to reduce property taxes in the long-term. And it’s just plain ugly that taxpayers could be on the hook for paying for this publicly financed election scheme that just amounts to welfare for politicians and political consultants,” said Tedisco.

The Good: this will be the fourth on-time budget in a row and the spending plan maintains a 2 percent cap on state spending. The 2014-15 state budget contains $1.5 billion in property tax relief for beleaguered homeowners and small businesses.  The budget lowers the manufacturer’s income tax to zero which will help create more jobs and it accelerates the phase-out of the 18A energy tax on businesses which has just been passed down to consumers in the form of higher energy bills.  It gradually moves the burdensome “Death Tax” in-line with the federal government. The budget adds $1.1 billion in school aid and gets our foot in the door to reforming the poorly executed Common Core curriculum. 

The budget also requires criminal background checks for employees of adult care facilities.  Last year, Tedisco and Senator Kathy Marchione first introduced legislation to close this loophole in state law and protect vulnerable senior citizens from being victimized by registered sex offenders as had happened at an adult home in Colonie.

The Bad: the state budget contains no significant mandate relief which is the biggest driver of property tax increases.  While the budget increases state aid to schools overall, it does little to close the so-called Gap Elimination Adjustment that slashed funding from Upstate schools a few years ago.

The Ugly: the new state budget creates a pilot program of publicly financed elections starting with the state Comptroller’s office. Using tax dollars on elections to pay for political consultants, annoying robo-calls and negative junk mail and television commercials is really just welfare for politicians and a waste of tax dollars.

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