Coalition speaks out on Public Radio
Hardly anyone needs to be told that property taxes in our state are too high. That they are actually 40% above the national average will not surprise homeowners and businesses struggling to survive here.
That is why, for several years, our Coalition has advocated a blue ribbon commission to study the problem and recommend measures to reduce the burden. We welcomed the establishment of such a Commission earlier this year and participated actively in its proceedings over the past several months.
The New York State Property Tax Relief Commission made a number of recommendations. These include, most notably, a circuit breaker for immediate relief, a tax levy cap to control future growth, and various cost containment measures on the state’s part, including relief from unfunded mandates. The Commission recommended the tax levy cap come first, with the others to follow. The Governor not only supports the recommendations but, has mounted an active campaign for legislative enactment of the tax cap.
Opposition to the Governor’s tax cap proposal has been intense from politically powerful education groups and others, but a recent Siena poll found 74% of respondents approved the idea. Clearly, the proposal should spark serious discussion, but, so far the legislature has not even formally introduced the Governor’s bill that would start the process.
One shouldn’t have to agree fully with the recommendations of the Governor and the Commission to recognize the importance of responding promptly and meaningfully. These recommendations resulted from an enormous amount of time and expertise which the Commission put into this task, for the benefit of all residents, and especially, for the long suffering property owners of our state. The legislature’s lack of such a response, and, its seeming unwillingness to even begin a dialogue, do a disservice to all concerned taxpayers.
Our Coalition supports the tax levy cap, but, we believe it should be part of a comprehensive package that also includes the other two primary elements of the Commission’s recommendations. They all play an important role, and the entire package should be enacted THIS YEAR.
The second element of this package is the urgently needed circuit breaker relief bill, which has already advanced in both legislative chambers. It will help those at risk of being forced from their homes because of an unsustainably high property tax burden, sometimes as high as 30% or more of their income. This bill is not some massive budget breaker, but is reasonably within the range of funding, already projected, for property tax relief. It no way competes with the tax levy cap. They do fundamentally different things and can complement one another.
The third element, curtailing unfunded state mandates, goes hand in hand with the tax cap, relieving schools of a major reason for escalating local taxes and reducing the inevitable pressure on voters to override the cap.
The cap will ensure a degree of control over future increases, but we think it can be significantly improved if it is part of this comprehensive package of other badly needed relief. "Comprehensive" package does not mean "complicated". Many basic elements are already available in bill form and can all be enacted promptly, if there is a will to do so.
We commend Governor Paterson for his focus on this problem and the need for a prompt solution. He is responding to the outcry from property taxpayers all across New York for relief from a crisis that is increasingly driving them out of their homes and out of the state.
The Siena poll made one thing unequivocally clear, if it was not clear enough already: PROPERTY TAXPAYERS HAVE HAD IT !! Failure of the legislature, thus far, to take action on their desperate need for relief – as amply described in the Commission report – is intolerable.
It is NOW time for both chambers of the legislature to do the right thing by tackling this serious problem immediately. Enactment of ALL THREE of the basic elements of needed relief must happen – without fail – THIS YEAR. Taxpayers cannot afford any other outcome.