August 20, 2008 - 12:01 a.m.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's Assembly passed its "circuit breaker" proposal meant to provide property tax relief to many homeowners statewide, but the legislators remained divided on the tax cap plan supported by the Senate and Gov. David Paterson.

The result is no legislative relief for the nation's highest property taxes this year, following the regular session that ended in June and the special emergency economic session held Tuesday.

The Assembly says its proposal would raise almost $2.7 billion from new income taxes on 77,000 people earning more than $1 million annually. But the Senate's Republican majority opposes the measure, saying it will drive employers or the jobs they control out of state.

Assembly Majority Leader Ronald Canestrari, an Albany County Democrat, said 35,000 of those taxpayers live outside New York, and $910 million would help cut spending. The property tax relief would come as income tax credits. He acknowledged it's a one-house bill, but said several Republicans crossed over to vote for it with the majority Democrats.

Paterson supports a circuit breaker, too, but said the tax cap is needed first to control school district spending and the growth in school property taxes.

His proposal, adopted by the Senate's Republican majority, would cap property tax growth to 4 percent a year or 20 percent inflation above inflation, whichever is less, unless local voters overwhelming wanted to spend and tax more. The Assembly Democrats and the state's powerful teachers union oppose that, saying it would unfairly reduce spending that schools need.

Paterson said Tuesday that he could agree to a provision that would make sure the poorest districts don't lose out on critical aid under a tax cap.
 

Monday’s article regarding the school funding cap quoted Thomas Suozzi, Nassau County executive, as saying, "It’s ironic that people that are purported to represent working families here in New York State are trying to derail one of the most important efforts in our state right now to help working families."

It is precisely because we care about working families that Citizen Action of New York and the Working Families Party oppose the "tax cap."

The school-funding cap proposed by Gov. David A. Paterson would not decrease anyone’s property taxes. It would only limit future increases to 4 percent, meaning homeowners already suffering an unaffordable tax burden would see no relief.

There is a better way. The Working Families Party and Citizen Action have proposed legislation that would provide a real property tax cut for middle class homeowners. Called the "circuit breaker," it would limit each family’s property tax bill, based on its income and the size of its tax burden, delivering a targeted tax relief for those who need it most.

But property tax relief cannot come at the price of providing a quality education for our children. That means, given the looming budget gap in Albany, the responsible way to pay for circuit breaker tax relief is to modestly repeal tax giveaways for the wealthiest New Yorkers.

In New York today, the top income tax rate begins at just $42,000 a year, meaning millionaires pay taxes at the same rate as nurses or police officers. Over the last 25 years, the wealthiest 1 percent of New Yorkers have seen their tax rate cut in half, while families earning $50,000 per year now pay $1,000 more than they would have under the old tax rates.

It is past time to rectify this injustice. With a partial repeal of tax cuts on the richest New Yorkers, we can give working families real property tax relief, without threatening education.

On Tuesday, the Assembly passed a groundbreaking bill to do just that. The measure asks those annually earning more than $1 million, and those earning more than $5 million, to pay a little more. In exchange, homeowners whose property taxes rise above a fixed percentage of their family income would see a tax rebate from the state. It is a good start, and a road map for how to do property tax relief right.

The property tax crisis in New York is a complex problem. It begs a solution that gives relief where it is most needed, without undermining the gains we have made in public education. The school funding cap as proposed by Paterson and the Senate unfortunately does neither.

That is why the Working Families Party and Citizen Action worked to stop the tax cap scheme, and why we will keep fighting for real property tax relief for the middle class.