29
Feb
2000
ALBANY Senator Bruno's leap-year proposal could mean a giant leap forward for New York's economy.
New York's surplus came from the bottom lines and household budgets of New York taxpayers. We agree with Senator Bruno that returning those dollars to taxpayers is the best use of that surplus, and we applaud his creative and strategic proposals for doing that. His business-tax cuts would be especially helpful: For example:
- The energy GRT is a major factor in New York's above-average energy costs; repealing it, as Senator Bruno and Governor Pataki have both proposed, is the single best thing lawmakers can do now to continue our progress in reducing those costs.
- Changing how the securities industry allocates sales for tax purposes, from the address of the firm to the address of the customer, would encourage this industry to keep existing jobs in New York and put new ones here. By doing the opposite, current tax law actually discourages job creation in New York.
- Creating a sales-tax exemption for investments in high-tech telecommunications equipment will encourage these billion-dollar growth industries to continue to grow and prosper here.
- Eliminating the ton-mileage portion of the highway use tax will kill a state tax that is a major competitive disadvantage to all New York companies that rely on trucking - because only a handful of other states impose such a tax, and many out-of-state companies simply ignore this tax.
The Business Council believes that New York has come a long way in reducing its tax burden, but that there's a long way to go. Putting New York State's tax burden in line with the rest of the nation's is a job well begun but by no means done.
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