Groups Urge State Leaders to Support Real Property Tax Relief (Circuit Breaker)

Caution that 2% Hard Tax Cap Will Hurt Services in NYS - Urge Leaders to Broaden the Discussion

ALBANY, NY (05/09/2011)(readMedia)-- A diverse array of organizations from across NYS will ask our elected officials to rethink the 2% hard property tax cap as the answer to our state's property tax woes. The tax cap will not help the hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers that are already paying double digit percentages of their income in property taxes. The groups are urging state leaders to broaden the discussion to include tax relief measures that would link property taxes to individual income in the form of a circuit breaker.

Groups Include: Omnibus Consortium, League of Women Voters of NYS, New Roosevelt Initiative, Business and Labor Coalition of NYS (BALCONY), Alliance for Quality Education, Statewide Senior Action Council, NYSUT, AFSCME, Citizen Action of NY, TREND (Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess), TaxNightmare.org, NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness and Fiscal Policy Institute

WHO:

Who:

Bill Samuels, New Roosevelt Initiative

Barbara Bartoletti, League of Women Voters

Nikki Jones, Alliance for Quality Education

Lou Gordon, Business and Labor Coalition of NY (BALCONY)

Brian McDonnell, AFSCME

Maria Alvarez, Statewide Senior Action Council

Steve Allinger, NYSUT

Karen Scharff, Citizen Action of NY

Robert McKeon, TREND (Takscx Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess)

Gioia Shebar, TaxNightmare.org

John Whitely NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition

Ron Deutsch, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness

Frank Mauro, Fiscal Policy Institute

Susan Zimet, Ulster County Legislator and Director, Zimet Group

Various Members of the Assembly
WHAT:

The Committee to Save NY is blanketing the airwaves with TV Commercials urging the passage of a property tax cap. They will be having a rally in Albany tomorrow as well. We thought the press might like to hear a different point of view.

Many property tax reformers have been calling for the creation of a circuit breaker to address the fact that many New Yorkers cannot afford their property taxes. A Circuit Breaker will provide relief based on need. A tax cap will provide no one with relief and will only ask local governments to do more with less control.

WHEN: Tuesday May 10, 2011 at 02:00PM Eastern Time (US & Canada)
WHERE: LCA Room, LOB
Albany, New York