November 14, 2011
For immediate release:

Contact: Ron Deutsch, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness (518) 469-6769
Gioia Shebar, Tax Nightmare.org (845) 256-0082
Susan Zimet, Ulster County Legislator and Zimet Group Consulting, (845) 527-5309
John Whiteley, NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition, (518) 585-6837
Robert McKeon, Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess (TREND) (845) 399-4582
Frank Mauro, Fiscal Policy Institute, (518) 786-3156

State Raises Property Taxes for Working Class Families While Cutting Taxes for Millionaires
Group Asks: This is the Solution to Our Tax Problems?

(Albany, NY) Property Tax Reformers held a conference today at Mohonk Mountain House in New Paltz, New York with a 150 people in attendance. This is the second summit that the Omnibus Consortium (www.omnibustaxsolution.com) has held at Mohonk Mountain House. The first summit was held in 2008 and marked the birth of a movement to enact meaningful property tax relief and reform that continues to this day.

Groups participating in the summit include League of Women Voters of NYS, Fiscal Policy Institute, NYS Assessors Association, NYS Property Tax Reform Coalition, taxnightmare.org, NYers for Fiscal Fairness, education activists, affordable housing advocates, property tax reform groups and many, many more.

The consortium continues to call upon Governor Cuomo and Legislative Leaders to champion real property tax relief for the nearly 700,000 New Yorkers that pay double digit percentages of their income in property taxes. They urged Governor Cuomo and Legislative Leaders to abandon the ill conceived property tax cap that provides no relief to over-burdened tax payers and replace it with meaningful reforms and a circuit breaker that will target relief to those that need it most.

An examination of residential property taxes (with incomes below $100,000 per year), which was conducted by the Fiscal Policy Institute based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) shows:

· More than 240,000 households pay at least 20 percent of their income in property taxes.

· More than 675,000 New York households pay 10 percent or more of their income in property taxes.

· More than 30 percent of households with incomes of $100,000 or less fall into this group, as do nearly half (47 percent) of those with incomes of $50,000 or less.

· In the $25,000 and less income range, 64 percent of the home-owning households–270,000 households—paid more than ten percent of their income in property taxes. About 170,000 of these households had property tax bills that represented 20 percent or more of their income.

“These are the same data that underlie the Tax Foundation work cited by Governor Cuomo in his presentations on the proposed property tax cap,” said Frank Mauro, Executive Director of the Fiscal Policy Institute. “Households that pay an inordinate share of their income in property taxes are the most in danger of being forced out of their homes.”

“Tax caps may make for a nice sound bite, but they are not a sound solution to the property tax problems facing our state’s residents. Our state leaders have decided that middle and working class families in NYS need a tax increase while millionaires in NYS need a tax cut. It simply defies logic,” said Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness.

John Whiteley of the New York State Property Tax Reform Coalition commented, “There are many aspects of the property tax system that can and should be improved, but the system will never be fair because its very foundation is flawed — the false premise that an increase in the value of one’s home means they should be able to pay higher taxes on it. We should be using this archaic system less — but instead we are using it more. We must begin NOW to chart a new funding system, especially for schools, that will gradually but significantly reduce dependence on the property tax. And since this major reform will take time to accomplish, we must enact circuit breaker relief NOW to help save people’s homes while the reform efforts move forward. This relief and reform imperative is the crux of our agenda.”

“We in the Omnibus Consortium are ready to continue holding Albany’s feet to the fire of tax equity and economic justice which is raging worldwide-nowhere more so than in NYS. Watch out for powerful, lavishly funded advocates for the richest 1% as they attempt to wipe out the last vestiges of the progressive income tax in place in the state- the “millionaires (and billionaires) tax”. They want this desperately needed surcharge killed as do their hired hands in Albany. Lobbyists for the greediest of the 1% flat our don’t give a damn that their actions would increase already ruinous property taxes thereby diminishing further what’s left of the middle class. But we DO care; and we will resist; and we will prevail,” stated Gioia Shebar, Coordinator Taxnightmare.org.

“Property taxes are impossible for farm families! The Farm Bureau delegates at their yearly meeting voted UNANIMOUSLY to support the Omnibus Circuit Breaker”.
Bill Trumpbour, A director of Greene County Farm Bureau, Omnibus Member
” After the loss of nearly $2 billion dollars in the STAR program and tax cuts for the wealthiest New Yorkers of far more than that, we are now treated with a mechanism that will only further cement NYS’ unfair system of collecting revenue,” said Robert McKeon, TREND (Tax Reform Effort of Northern Dutchess). “Forty years ago, those making over a million dollars a year paid 15.375% of income to NYS (returning now to 6.85%) while property taxes (without any income based limit) picked up the slack. It’s now reached the point where the top 1% pay an effective state and local tax rate of 7.2%, while the middle fifth pays nearly 12%. The cap is just a continuation of the assault on working New Yorkers to the benefit of the rich. When the lay-offs are tallied and homeowners receive an even higher bill next year, the truth about the cap and the correspondingly lower poll numbers will become apparent. Only a circuit breaker can address the emergency situation that nearly 700,000 homeowners find themselves in – their taxes are already above what they can afford.”

END PRESS RELEASE