Suozzi Assails Spitzer Tax "Plan"
Suozzi Assails Spitzer Tax "Plan"
For weeks, Thomas Suozzi has badgered and needled gubernatorial rival Eliot Spitzer to release a detailed plan on reducing property taxes. Spitzer did so on Monday, but, not surprisingly, Suozzi wasn't impressed.
The Nassau County executive, fighting a long-shot bid for the Democratic nomination for governor, lashed out at Spitzer's $6 billion proposal yesterday, questioning how the attorney general would finance the STAR rebate increases at the heart of his property-tax plan while also funding the other programs he has endorsed, such as transportation and education investments.
"Eliot Spitzer is either going to raise people's income taxes, or he's not going to do what he said he would," Suozzi said, echoing Spitzer's other opponent, Republican John Faso.
Spitzer spokeswoman Christine Anderson said Spitzer has already identified funds for additional spending on transportation, and reiterated that he would not increase levies, if elected governor. "Eliot Spitzer believes that raising taxes runs contrary to what New York families can sustain and what the economy requires right now."
Suozzi said he does not believe Spitzer can achieve the $11 billion in savings the attorney general said he has identified by rooting out health-care fraud, reforming public authorities and improving tax evasion enforcement, among other initiatives. The attorney general, Suozzi said, has not aggressively fought abuse in those areas.
"Eliot stands by his record as attorney general," Anderson said. "Medicaid recoveries have increased 2,000 percent under his watch [to $219 million], which far exceeds that of his predecessor."
Despite Spitzer's popularity in much of the state, it was Suozzi who received the warmest response in Saratoga Springs, where both men, as well as Faso, addressed a gathering of New York mayors this week.
Suozzi, a former member of the group from his days as mayor of Glen Cove, was the only one of the three to earn a standing ovation.
After leaving Saratoga, Suozzi sped to the capital to open his Albany campaign headquarters. In a small, second-floor office, he posed for pictures with a half-dozen or so volunteers.
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