2004 LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM
TAXATION

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Following is The Business Council's 2004 Legislative Program. It identifies priority issues to be addressed by the Committees and Councils during 2004.

The overall taxation policy of New York State must be to reduce our tax burden, the highest in the nation, to a competitive level. To advance this policy, state and local government leaders must restrain spending. In addition to the specific taxation policies below, The Business Council believes it is essential that the state eliminate the 2003 tax increases on schedule, if not earlier.

Corporate Article 9-A Tax

Support

• Elimination of the increase in Article 9-A taxation — occurring when jobs are located in New York — through adoption of an elective "single sales factor" method for apportionment of taxable income.



• If a single sales factor option is not adopted, then exclusion of Research and Development and Manufacturing wages from the numerator of the payroll factor component.



• Clarify that receipts for advertising appearing in magazines and periodicals are receipts from the sale of tangible personal property for City of New York tax purposes.

Articles 21, 32, and 33 Tax

Support

• Reduction of the Highway Use Tax (ton mileage tax) by another 25% of its pre-1998 level and conversion of the remaining tax into a 50% increase in registration fees for trucks subject to the Highway Use Tax.



• Extension of the Investment Tax Credit to leased equipment and to insurance operations.



• Establishment of permanency in Article 32, Articles 32 and 33 ITC law, and in the Financial Modernization Rules.

Telecommunications Tax Reductions

Support

• Reduction of Section 186-e Telecommunications Utility Gross Receipts Tax to the lowest level possible.



• Removal of all telecommunications services from taxation under the Gross Earnings Tax (Section 184).



• Increased investment in New York by modernization of the Sales and Use Tax exemption on telecommunications equipment (Section 1115 Subdivision 12) to include ancillary equipment used in the provision of telecommunication services.



• Elimination of the §186-a Gross Receipts Tax on other income of telecommunication utilities.

Administrative and Miscellaneous Tax

Support

• Enforcement of the Tax Law at the distributor level in order to assist in alleviation of the tax evasion problem with Native American tribes who sell gasoline, cigarettes, other goods, and services, tax-free to non-Native Americans.



• Reduction of the Alcoholic Beverage Tax twelve cents per liter on liquors with less than 24% alcohol and thirty cents per liter on liquors with greater than 24% alcohol.
  

Real Property Tax

Support

• Adoption of a Tax Appeals Division as the trial court for Article 7 certiorari proceedings on parcels exceeding one million dollars outside the City of New York.



• Establishment of escrow payments of Article 7 disputed tax liability.



• Permission for the calling of the assessor for testimony in an Article 7 certiorari proceeding.



• Increase of the appeal period from 30 to 60 or 90 days.



• Limitation of the discrimination between "homestead" and non-"homestead" rates to 25% and a five-year "grandfather" phase-out for jurisdictions currently exceeding 25%.

Sales and Use Tax

Support

• Exemption of utilities needed to maintain controlled manufacturing and research & development environments.



• Exemption of materials transferred in the rendition of advertising services.



• Exemption of any portion of integrated hazardous waste removal, treatment, disposition, transportation, or similar services.



• Exemption of equipment or machinery used to reduce or control pollution from manufacturing and industrial facilities.



• Exemption of the "installation, maintenance, or repair" services on research and development equipment.

The Business Council of New York State, Inc.
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