About 150 concerned New Yorkers stopped by the Legislative Office Building in Albany on Tuesday, May 10th, to protest the “profits over people” lobbyists and Tea Partiers who were meeting in the Well of the Legislative Office Building in support of Governor Cuomo’s proposal to cap property tax increases at 2%. We joined New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness and dozens of other grassroots groups to that a tax cap isn’t so popular among New York’s working families. Why? Because a property tax cap is merely a legislative gimmick that sounds good, but would actually result in guaranteed increases to New Yorker’s property taxes.
We were calling for a property tax “circuit breaker” instead, which would provide targeted property tax relief to those who really need it. Formulas would be based on an individual’s actual taxes, instead of an across the board tax cap that would devastate local governments and our school districts.
About 75 Tea Partiers (some waving Gadsden flags), assembled in the Well to hear Republican legislators, like Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb and Senator John Flanagan, spew talking points that would appeal to the uninformed. A tax cap sounds nice, but as Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee said in a press conference later, New Yorkers don’t need a “sound bite,” they need “sound policy.”
Here’s a short video clip of the protest in the Well of the Legislative Office Building:
A property tax cap is a one-size-fits-all solution that would destroy the ability for local school districts to offer the quality education to our children and maintain balanced budgets.
Senator John Flanagan, a Republican who is the Chair of the Senate Education Committee, was one of the first speakers to address the Tea Party crowd. As our protest grew louder, other speakers were unable to keep their composure and began straying from their prepared statements to refer to us with names such as the “Peanut Gallery” and the “Kindergarten Crew.”
At the commencement of the press conference, the two sides met in the middle of the Well. The two opposing groups, both adamantly supporting their view on the issue, began debating. The confrontation ended with hand shakes.
Later in the day, we held a press conference to propose an alternative to the property tax cap, a circuit breaker. The circuit breaker sets a maximum tax bill burden for each household based on that household’s income. For less affluent households, a tax bill that exceeds a specified percentage of household income would “throw the circuit,” limiting their tax bill to the specified percentage of income. The tax bill for for an affluent household would not exceed the specified percentage of their income and they would be expected to pay the full assessment.
Here’s a video of the press conference held after the protest in Room 130 of the Legislative Office Building in Albany:
Some notable quotes from the press conference:
Assemblymember Barbara Lifton pointed out that under a tax cap, a billionaire would pay the same taxes as an individual making only $40,000 a year.
Assemblymember Ellen Jaffee dismissed the tax cap as a mere “sound bite” rather than “sound policy.”
Ulster County Legislator Susan Zimet noted that due to the tax cap, families are having to leave New York. “Taking a New Yorker out of New York is like killing him,” she said.
Executive Director of the Statewide Senior Action Council Maria Alvarez said that “the targeting of tax relief to those with the most need based on income is a far more effective strategy than a simple cap which would also drain resources for senior programs.”
“Responding to the property tax crisis with a cap is like bringing a band-aid to someone who is bleeding internally,” said Robert McKeon, Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess. “You’re not going to prevent the feared outcome and you’re not going to get at the root of the problem. A circuit breaker is the only mechanism that will protect everyone against burdensome levels of taxation and is viewed more favorably in polls than a cap. This is the course Albany should be taking if it really wants to help average New Yorkers.”
Karen Scharff, Citizen Action of New York’s Executive Director, said that “the tax cap is one more fake Albany quick fix. After severely cutting state school aid, and forcing more costs onto local property taxpayers, the Governor and Senate now want to squeeze schools from both directions by capping local taxes. And they want a cap that doesn’t even have exemptions for costs that schools and local governments can’t control, like rising energy and health care costs. Albany politicians want to tie the hands of local schools and governments, so that they are unable to provide the services the public wants.”