WNY Residents Just Can’t Afford to Pay More State Taxes

Last week, New York City Democrats drafted and passed a new plan to make your life more expensive.

The Senate’s one-house budget resolution takes more hard-earned dollars from taxpayers. The proposal imposes a new tax on Internet purchases, and creates a new 25-cent tax on paper grocery bags.

It starts taxing medication and prescription drugs. It also levies a new driving tax, or in the case of the Assembly, a new gasoline tax. Lastly, the Senate one-house budget also ends property tax rebates for homeowners.

In total, these new and increased taxes would force New Yorkers to pay $2 billion more in just the first year alone. Many residents are fleeing our state because New York has the highest tax burden in the nation, and this disastrous proposal would make that burden even worse.

Simply put, residents in our community can’t afford to pay more state taxes. That is why I voted against this misguided budget proposal.

Under this high tax plan, New York will continue to experience the steepest population loss in the nation. This irresponsible plan will exacerbate Upstate’s economic challenges and force even more Upstate residents to leave for more affordable states.

On the other hand, I have been advocating for a new set of common-sense solutions to address our state’s ailing business climate so that more hard-working families can live, work and thrive. The Re-Open New York for Business Plan is in response to Senate Democrats outright rejection of the Amazon HQ2 project, costing New Yorkers 25,000 new jobs and $27.5 billion in revenue.

The new plan would help reinvigorate the state economy and establish countless job opportunities for middle-class workers, while beginning to undo some of the damage done by stopping the Amazon HQ2 project.

When Senate Democrats turned down 25,000 new jobs, they sent a clear message to job-creators across the nation that New York is closed for business. That is why I am fighting to re-open New York for business by enacting each one of these sensible tax and economic development reforms.

The comprehensive jobs plan includes:

•           Saving small businesses $700 million in state taxes;

•           Eliminating 18-A energy tax on utility bills;

•           Making the property tax cap permanent;

•           Opposing any new taxes to balance the budget; and

•           Enacting comprehensive regulatory reform for small businesses this year.

These sensible tax and economic development reforms present clear alternatives to irresponsible policies by reversing the dangerous job-killing precedents in the Amazon debacle.

For more information about the Re-Open New York for Business Plan, visit my website, ranzenhofer.nysenate.gov. As the April 1st budget deadline nears, I’ll be certain to keep you posted on my efforts to make New York more affordable.