Politics on the Hudson

Sen. Chuck Schumer told reporters in a conference call this afternoon “there’s a good chance’’ his proposal for a $4,000 tax credit for college expenses will be included in the economic stimulus package Congress plans to enact by mid-Frebruary.

Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco, R-Schenectady, has launched an online campaign against a proposed tax on books, songs, albums and movies downloaded from the Internet. The Web site www.stoptheitax.com asks for people to join the cause and donate 99 cents, the price of a song, or more.

As part of his 2009-10 budget proposal last month, Gov. David Paterson recommended closing the “digital property taxation loophole.” Doing so means someone would pay the same tax online as they would in a store. A song on iTunes would cost $1.07, rather than 99 cents. Tedisco said he wants to stop the tax from becoming law in New York and elsewhere in the country.

“The iTax is on top of the Governor’s plans to tax us every time we drink soda or go to a movie or sporting event. Nice, huh???” the Web site says. (Paterson proposed 137 new or expanded taxes and fees, including on movies and sodas and beverages that have sugar.)

Supporters can buy anti-tax merchandise, join a discussion, listen to Tedisco’s YouTube message against the iTax or link to a Facebook page on the issue. (The Facebook page had 12 members as of 4:30 p.m.)

“Downloading music and content from iTunes and other digital services has become as American as apple pie. However, if the iTax passes, it’ll be the day the music died,” Tedisco said in a statement, referencing “American Pie” by Don McLean.

 New York has lost more than $300 million since June 3 because it doesn’t collect the excise tax on Indian cigarette sales, according to the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association and the American Heart Association. The groups set up a “Tobacco Tax Ticker” six months ago.

   The organizations are urging Gov. David Paterson to collect taxes on cigarettes sold at Indian reservations. Native-American tribes oppose the measure. The Seneca Indian nation has run a series of commercials that say the governor would hurt the upstate economy if he ordered the taxes be collected.

   The health groups claim that doing so would prompt an estimated 150,000 New Yorkers to quit smoking and help provide funds for health programs that serve people without insurance.

   Holiday shoppers aren’t the only ones being warned by financial types to keep a tight hold on their credit cards in a poor economy. In a bulletin, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is reminding anyone with state-issued plastic that there are looming budget deficits and the state is trying to clamp down on spending.

   “The state’s finances are in bad shape. And things will probably get worse before they get better,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “State agencies must carefully monitor all travel expenses, eliminate all unnecessary travel and remind employees that state-issued cards can only be used for appropriate and reasonable expenses.

   “Everyone must play by these rules. If they don’t, my office is watching expenses closely and will take appropriate steps if questionable or excessive charges are identified,” he said.

   DiNapoli said he plans to issue a series of bulletins to help state agencies review and control spending.

   These are some of his tips on appropriate use of state credit cards:

  —They are for use when an employee is on official state business and in travel status, meaning they are more than 35 miles from their official work station and their home. They can expense things like transportation, meals, tolls and unanticipated work supplies (which then become the property of New York State).

  —They cannot be used for personal charges or to purchase meals or other items on days when they are not in travel status.

   New Yorkers have just a week left to claim more than 19,000 economic-stimulus checks (with an average amount of $579) that were returned to the Internal Revenue Service because of incorrect addresses. Taxpayers have until next Friday to update their address. By law, stimulus checks must be sent out by Dec. 31.

   To check the status of a stimulus payment, use the “Where’s My Stimulus Payment?” tool on the IRS Web site or call the rebate hotline at 866-234-2942. 

   More than 8,500 regular refund checks have been returned to the IRS as undeliverable. Those checks are not subject to the Nov. 28 deadline for address updates and can be reissued at any time after a new address is provided.

   After 18 months of serving in a post that was supposed to last six or eight months, State University of New York Interim Vice Chancellor John Clark announced today that he is resigning Dec. 31. Clark took over in June 2007 for John Ryan, who left May 31, 2007. Clark, who was interim president of four SUNY campuses before being named vice chancellor, was appointed by the board as a visiting professor, to be paid $195,000 a year.

   Clark has joked that he is SUNY’s equivalent of a baseball relief pitcher. He has been paid $340,000 per year and has had the use of a car, driver, the chancellor’s residence in Albany and an apartment in New York City. He described his tenure as interim chancellor as the highlight of his career.

   Carl Hayden of Elmira, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said the search for a new chancellor has taken a lot longer than anticipated. There’s a possibility the search could be concluded by the end of the year, but there are other scenarios in which that may not be possible. The subcomittee heading up the search, which he heads, should have some news about new leadership for the 64-campus system by mid-December, he said.

   The subcommittee has some prominent candidates in the pool, and members recently interviewed a “remarkable” candidate and hope the person will agree to be added to the list, Hayden said.

   “This is not the easiest environment in which to be recruiting a new chancellor,” he said, referring to the state’s budget crisis and cuts to SUNY.

   In thanking Clark for his service, Hayden said he has served during what is arguably one of the most difficult times in SUNY’s history. (more…)

   Gov. David Paterson is not too happy with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos’ remarks on the governor’s proposal for $2 billion in budget cuts this fiscal year. Paterson unveiled his plan today on reducing state spending. The state has a $1.5 billion budget gap that is expected to grow.

   Skelos, R-Nassau County, said lawmakers need to see what the governor proposes in his 2009-10 budget before it can act on anything else. Paterson has called lawmakers back to Albany Tuesday for a special budget-cutting session. Skelos is opposed to raising taxes or passing costs down to school districts and local governments.

   Here is what Paterson spokesman Errol Cockfield said in response:

   “It would be fiscally irresponsible to delay addressing the current-year $1.5 billion deficit by tying it into next year’s budget. The longer we wait to reduce spending, the more difficult and costly it will be to confront these serious budget gaps later.

   “Governor Paterson will begin tackling next year’s $12.5 billion deficit—the largest in our state’s history—when he proposes his budget five weeks early on Dec. 16. Right now, what the state needs is immediate action to close this year’s $1.5 billion gap so we can ensure the state’s long-term fiscal security. I am confident the Legislature will partner with us and rise to that challenge.”

For those craving more information on how what happens in Albany trickles down to your community, the New York State Conference of Mayors and Municipal Officials has launched www.StopTheTaxShift.org. Its purpose is to educate policymakers, the media, the public and, more specifially, New York’s overburdened real property taxpayer.

With New York’s fiscal crisis, mayors and other local officials are preparing to fight back any potential threats to state aid they receive. Last week, members of the New York Association of Counties and the County Executives Association cautioned that reductions in state aid could negatively affect communities and result in property-tax hikes. Gov. David Paterson has asked lawmakers to hold a special budget-cutting session in Albany next week. New York faces a $1.5 billion shortfall this year, which is expected to grow, and $12.5 million in 2009-10.

“New York is at a crossroads,” Cohoes Mayor John McDonald, president of the Conference of Mayors, said in a statement. “Will our leaders repeat the near fatal mistakes of the early 1990s, when local aid was slashed, and from which many communities have never recovered? Or will the governor and state legislators take the right approach and protect municipal property taxpayers from the devastating effect of cuts in AIM (municipal aid) funding?”

Features on StopTheTaxShift.org include a blog by “Joe Taxpayer” and a “Mandate of the Week” section.

   The Assembly just released its take on New York’s budget crisis. Like the report issued earlier today by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, it doesn’t contain good news. Employment and wages are expected to fall in 2009 and the decline on Wall Street will drive down other revenues to the state.

   “The New York State economic outlook is bleak,” according to the Assembly report, prepared by the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

   The mid-year update of revenues and the state’s economic outlook is required by the state budget process.

   Some of the other Assembly findings: 

  —Tax revenues for 2008-09 will be $61 billion, $252 million below the estimate by Gov. David Paterson’s Division of Budget. That’s $1.8 billion less than the Budget Division’s first quarter estimate. Anticipated revenues for 2009-10 are $59 billion, much of which can be attributed to the forecast for personal income tax.

  —A slowdown in consumer spending is expected to limit 2009-10 growth in sales tax revenue to 1.9 percent. Business taxes are expected to decrease by 1.1 percent from 2008-09.

   The Ways and Means Committee predicts state school aid will increase $1.33 billion. A report issued by Assembly Republican Ways and Means Committee forecasts that school aid will increase about $1.9 billion in 2009-10, bringing the total to $23 billion. 

   State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli appears to agree with Gov. David Paterson that the state will have to reduce spending next year to deal with New York’s fiscal crisis. Here’s what DiNapoli has to say about the Mid-Year Financial Plan, which the governor released today. The governor said the state has to cut 25 percent of its spending supported by taxes next year.

   DiNapoli’s statement today:

   “New York State is facing staggering budget shortfalls. State revenues are dropping off and the markets’ errtic swings continue. The economic turmoil is driving New York into a very deep budget hole. And our past use of fiscal gimmicks has made the state’s financial situation even worse.

   “The consequences of the fiscal crisis haven’t fully played out yet. We need to assess what we can afford, and make sure we don’t keep spending money we don’t have.”