Suozzi Greets Spitzer at Mineola Train Station
Suozzi Greets Spitzer at Mineola Train Station
Asks: "Will Eliot Spitzer Ever Offer a Specific Plan to Reduce Property Taxes?
MINEOLA, NYDemocratic candidate for Governor Tom Suozzi today greeted his opponent, Eliot Spitzer, at the Mineola train station. Suozzi asked Spitzer if and when he would offer a specific plan to reduce property taxes in Nassau County and across New York State.
"Property taxes are crushing residents here in Nassau County, throughout Long Island and across New York State. Property taxes here are 73% above the national average," said Suozzi. "They are crushing our communities and forcing residents to leave our state. People are suffering and we need to address this serious problem with specific plans, not easy platitudes. I have introduced my property tax cut plan, and I'm demanding that Eliot Spitzer introduce his own specific plan to provide property tax relief to New Yorkers."
"Eliot has barely mentioned property taxes at all, and when he does, he has given no specific plans as to how to reduce them," continued Suozzi.
According to the twenty speeches posted on Eliot Spitzer's campaign website, in which Spitzer has spoken 50,846 words, he has only mentioned property taxes 9 times. [Sentence corrected]
Yesterday, the Public Policy Institute of the Business Council of New York State released a report showing that New York State collects more state and local taxes per person than any other state in the nation.
In April, Comptroller Alan Hevesi released a report showing that in the last five years, property taxes in New York have increased by three times the rate of inflation. Things are even worse in Nassau, Putnam, Rockland, Suffolk and Westchester Counties, where property tax burdens are more than twice the statewide average.
In May, Tom Suozzi rolled out his $2.15 Billion Property Tax Cut Plan. Suozzi had previously unveiled his $5 Billion Taxpayers Savings Plan for New York, which will provide the funding both to reduce property taxes and fund a settlement to the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit in New York City.
Nearly $2.15 billion of Tom Suozzi's Taxpayers Savings Plan for New York will go towards cutting property taxes in districts with the highest overall tax rates in counties with the highest overall taxes.
Money in the Suozzi plan goes largely to the counties the Comptroller's report has identified as having the highest property taxes, which are the same counties that receive the lowest shares of state education aid. Nassau County, for instance, gets only 15% of its school funding from the state, while the state average for local aid is 37%. On a per student basis, Nassau has 7.5% of the state's students, yet receives less than 4% of total state aid.
Nassau County's schools currently receive only $600 million in State school aid. Under the Suozzi Tax Cut Plan, Nassau County would receive an additional $610 million in school property tax relief. Suffolk County would receive an additional $337 million in school property tax relief and Westchester County would receiving an additional $396 million in school property tax relief.
For property tax payers to receive these monies, their school districts must agree to implement a five year spending plan with a commitment for no more than a 5% increase per year. The plan is entirely voluntary, so the money allocated to those districts that do not opt in will instead be distributed countywide to provide county property tax relief.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi has made property tax relief a centerpiece of his campaign for Governor. He is the only candidate for Governor with a real plan to cut property taxes.
Tom Suozzi is also the only Democratic candidate for Governor who has identified billions of dollars of savings in the State budget. His $5 Billion Taxpayers Savings Plan for New York would reduce the State workforce by 10%, implement smart government initiatives to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid system, restructure the State's debt, reform the State's pension system, and broaden the sales tax base.
http://tomsuozzi.com/announcements/pr-060206/