Three-term Senator Marty Golden Highlights Taxes Cut And New Laws

Brooklyn- Entering his third-term in the state Senate, Senator Marty Golden (R,C-Brooklyn) released a list of important new state laws effective for 2007 and said that he will hold Governor-elect Spitzer to his pledge of not raising taxes.

“As I look towards the New Year, Governor-elect Spitzer, the Senate and Assembly must act with fiscal restraint in order to cut taxes that return money back to families and small businesses in Brooklyn and across New York State,” said Senator Golden. “We have made strides at reducing crime and improving education, but there are many unresolved issues like civil commitment of sexually violent predators that are on the horizon.”

Senator Golden reflected on his role in the state Senate to cut taxes including the New York State Child Tax Credit and other new laws to crack down on wasteful Medicaid fraud, increasing penalties on gun-toting thugs and increasing the minimum wage.

Senator Golden’s support of over $4.1 billion in tax cuts will return money to New York’s hardworking families and help make New York more economically competitive. The tax cuts include new tax credits to parents of school age children, state sales tax on clothing and shoes, the marriage income tax penalty and state gas tax.

> 2006 Empire State Child Credit -- Taxpayers will save additional money with the newly created Empire State Child Credit that will provide a $330 per child tax break to parents of school age children (ages four to sixteen). The tax credit will be available for the 2006 taxable year.

> Elimination of Sales Tax on Clothing and Shoes – Shoppers save money when they buy clothing and shoes priced under $110 per item as a result of the elimination of the state sales tax on these items. The sales tax cut became law in April 2006.

> Elimination of Income Tax Marriage Penalty -- Married taxpayers will save $41 million as a result of an agreement to eliminate the personal income tax marriage penalty. The new guidelines would increase the standard deduction for married taxpayers to $15,000 for joint filers and to $7,500 for married taxpayers filing separately, bringing them in line with single taxpayers. The elimination of the income tax marriage penalty will be available for the 2006 taxable year.

> State Gas Tax Cut - To help ease the pain at the pump, a new law cut the state sales tax on gasoline by 4 cents per gallon. The gas tax cut became law in May 2006.

As Chairman of the Senate Aging Committee, Golden played a key role in establishing an independent Office of Medicaid Inspector General within the State Department of Health. Effective January 1, 2007, the law directs the Inspector to establish regulations requiring each Medicaid provider to implement Medicaid Provider Compliance Programs, in order to organize provider resources to resolve payment discrepancies and detect inaccurate billings as efficiently as possible, and to impose checks and balances on the system to prevent future recurrences.

Senator Golden authored a new law that gets gin-toting thugs off our streets. Back in December 2005, Golden authored the “Crimes Against Police Act” and “Anti-Gun Trafficking Legislation” but could not get closure on criminals possessing a single loaded illegal firearm. Senator Golden’s persistence led to a new law that increases penalties for the possession of a single loaded illegal firearm.

Lastly, the New York State minimum wage increases from $6.75 to $7.15 per hour. While most businesses already pay more than the minimum wage, this law mandates equal work for equal pay.