Citizen Action Responds to Suozzi Commission

Today’s preliminary report from the Suozzi Commission contains a mixture of good and bad ideas.

The proposed tax cap is the wrong way to restrain property tax growth — it will negatively impact the quality of education in struggling school districts.  A cap will maintain and possibly increase existing inequities in student achievement, leaving poor children and children of color behind.

The Executive order that established the Commission required the Commission to identify “the most effective approach to imposing a limit on local school property tax growth in New York State without adversely impacting the ability of school districts to provide a quality education to all students.” The proposed property tax cap would violate this directive.

In contrast, a dramatically expanded circuit breaker would provide real and immediate relief for New Yorkers struggling with high property taxes without harming the quality of education.  Citizen Action applauds the Commission’s support for a ‘circuit breaker’ to limit the percentage of income each household would pay in property taxes.  The circuit breaker, combined with full implementation of the State’s commitment to increased school aid, would significantly reduce property tax growth, especially for senior citizens, low income families and middle class families who are hardest hit by high property taxes.

Now that New York State has established a school funding formula based upon need, and has determined that many school districts across the state need to spend significantly more money in order to provide a sound basic education, it is essential that the State live up to its commitment to provide the necessary funds. Otherwise, the burden will fall on local property taxpayers, or on school children who will be deprived of the opportunity to succeed.  Keeping the State’s school aid promise is essential both to the future of education in our state and to limiting the growth of property taxes.

Lisa Donner and I, two of the Suozzi Commission’s five Special Advisors, sent the attached letter to Governor Paterson expressing our disagreement with the tax cap and our support of an expanded circuit breaker along with implementation of the State’s commitment to increased school aid.

Citizen Action of New York is a statewide grassroots organization with over 20,000 members and seven offices.  Citizen Action addresses issues of economic, racial and social justice, and is one of the founding organizations of the Alliance for Quality Education.