Local groups: "No more tax breaks for the super-wealthy"

ALBANY, NY (02/24/2014)(readMedia)-- Area leaders, including Assembly member Patricia A. Fahy (D-Albany), today joined a statewide coalition of labor, faith and community organizations to push back against Gov. Cuomo's proposed tax breaks for the wealthy and well connected. The groups held a noontime rally at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in Downtown Albany calling on local legislators to oppose billions in tax cuts that would undermine people, services and communities while benefiting the wealthiest New Yorkers.

Highlighting the stories of area residents who have been directly impacted by past budget cuts, the NYInequality coalition is seeking to persuade local lawmakers to fight back against giving the wealthiest another tax windfall, especially since New York ranks first in the nation for income inequality. Already, communities have suffered cuts to schools, first responders and other essential services.

"When half the children in our major upstate cities are living in poverty, how can the Governor possibly justify giving more than half of his projected $2 billion surplus to the state's millionaire and billionaires through dramatic reductions in the estate tax and tax breaks for big Wall Street banks," said Ron Deutsch, Executive Director for Fiscal Fairness.

"It's wrong to prioritize tax breaks for billionaires and bankers over the needs of our communities. We need to focus the state's limited resources on badly needed school aid and basic services in the places where the economy has been hit the hardest," said Blue Carreker, Campaigns Manager, Citizen Action of New York.

Other speakers at the event included Beth Glassanos, Coordinator of Advocacy, Outreach & Volunteerism at FOCUS Churches of Albany, who works hard every day in an impossible mission to stretch food pantry resources to meet the needs of the hungry in the Capital Region.

"Each week, we see the stark face of hunger in America. But funding for emergency food programs through the NYS HPNAP program is not rising to meet demand," said Glassanos. "We are told that there is not enough money in the budget; not enough money to help feed the hungry. But then why do we hear that billions of state dollars are being allocated for tax breaks for a small number of the wealthiest New Yorkers and for Wall Street bankers? "

Rev. Valerie Faust, Senior Pastor of Rhema Power Ministries, Inc. and Assembly member Fahy both shared the concerns of parents and teachers who fear their children are no longer being provided with the education they need to succeed and CSEA Capital Region President Kathy Garrison addressed the impact of bad budget choices on communities.

"There has been a "dumbing down" in education for years and we need Gov. Cuomo to help to reverse it in upstate NY by including the $1.9 Billion dollars in the budget to go towards improving the education of our children," Faust said. "We don't want our Governor to adopt the philosophy of the late John D Rockefeller who said, "I don't want a nation of thinkers, I want a nation of workers." We want the gap between rich and poor school districts to close and all school and educators be treated fairly."

"Despite increases in funding for education over the last two years, upwards of 70 percent of schools have less operating aid now than in FY 2008-09, so class sizes have grown as school districts continue to cut a wide range of educational programming," said Fahy. "Restoring education funding will continue to be a priority for me this session and I'm proud to stand with the NYInequality coalition in moving this issue along with job creation forward."

"The Governor's plan to create a "New" New York only creates greater inequality for working families," said Garrison. "People who need essential services will wind up paying the price for giving additional tax breaks to the wealthiest New Yorkers, because less funding means the services they depend on will be reduced or eliminated."

Also speaking at the event were Rev. Frances Wattman Rosenau, Associate Pastor, Westminster Presbyterian Church and Tony McCann, member, NYSUT Board of Directors and retired Shenendehowa schoolteacher.

The governor's proposal includes tax cuts to wealthy estates, the elimination of the bank tax and a so-called property tax "freeze." Estates worth up to $5.25 million would be tax exempt, up from $1 million, and the top tax rate will drop from 16 to 10 percent at a total cost of $750 million per year. The bulk of this windfall will go to fewer than 200 of the state's wealthiest families. A property tax "freeze" that will cost the state $1.8 billion over three years would give the largest level of relief to wealthy homeowners while diverting valuable resources from struggling schools and local governments. The budget proposal will reduce taxes for the largest banks in New York, as well as lowering the Corporate Franchise Tax to 6.5 percent, the lowest it's been since 1968. Combined, the cuts for corporations and banks could cost working New Yorkers $350 million.

There is no plan to offset the lost revenue of these or other proposed tax breaks.

Coalition groups, which include AFSCME, AQE, Citizen Action of NY, Labor Religion Coalition, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, CSEA, NYSUT, NY Working Families Party, A Strong Economy for All, the AFL-CIO and the Human Services Coalition, are calling for reinvestment in jobs and education to spur economic growth and an end to corporate tax loopholes.

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