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Today's Poll: Do you think the new property tax cap will ease the tax burden on New Yorkers?

By Howard B. Owens
Mary E DelPlato

I voted no because we know that fees and other ways of collecting money will be raised or will be put into effect... if they only could think logically and not be so greedy...pay cuts on the top...let people continue working so they can continue to contribute into the economy.....DUH!

Jun 22, 2011, 3:52pm Permalink
Timothy Hens

The property tax cap will be a major disaster!! Taxes will not go down and the cap will only result in major cuts to services unseen before in New York. Anything not "mandated" by the state constitution is on the chopping block. You can say goodbye to road maintenance, parks, sheriff's road patrols and youth services.

How could they pass legislation like this without considering true mandate relief?

There is no physical way for the cap to work. It is one of the biggest stunts ever and it will backfire on the Albany politicians who supported it.

On the other hand, maybe once people lose all of their "valued" services, they will finally get mad enough to stand up and scream "WHAT THE HELL?" and force Albany to modify the untouchable Medicaid behemoth that is strangling what is left of New York State.

Jun 22, 2011, 8:49pm Permalink
Mark Potwora

The way i see it is that the 2% cap will allow my property taxes to go up 6% a year...City ,School,County.Not a good deal for the property owner..Mr.Hens how much should a property owner have there taxes go up to make you happy..

Jun 22, 2011, 9:49pm Permalink
Timothy Hens

Mark--I don't want to see them go up at all. A nice cut would actually be good for everyone.

Unfortunately the new cap forces municipalities (county, city, schools, etc...) to cut ONLY the non-mandated services that everyone uses or benefits from like parks, highway, youth bureaus and sheriff's road patrols. You can say goodbye to school sports, music and arts programming.

The MEDICAID monster that creates the tax problem in the first place goes along unaffected. The size of the program and the usual increases (3-5%/year) will demand that other services get cut 15-20% to compensate for Medicaid growth. The County Highway Department is already 45% smaller than it was in 1998. There is nothing left to cut.

People need to know that the Medicaid program is ruining NY.

Jun 22, 2011, 11:48pm Permalink
Daniel Jones

Mark - It will help as it will keep increases under control, mandate relief is next on the agenda in Albany. It may not solve the problem but it is a start.

Mr. Hens - As I just said to Mark, the 'big ugly' where they pass controversial legislation at the end of session is happening in Albany, mandate relief is on the agenda. There is no need to hit panic button every time someone to right-size government and reduce the tax burden.

Jun 22, 2011, 11:58pm Permalink
Howard B. Owens

I don't see what the tax cap and mandate relief weren't passed at the same time. Separating them is a disaster waiting to happen.

Further, this isn't tax relief. As Mark correctly pointed out, local property owners are facing a potential 6 percent annual property tax increase. That doesn't sound like relief to me.

Relief would be mandated tax cuts, especially on school districts.

But again, it would be insane to pass cuts, just as with caps, without mandate reform.

Jun 23, 2011, 12:32am Permalink
Daniel Jones

Howard - It's a relief when the School District alone has blown through that 6 percent cap on their own several times in the past few years. Mandate reform is on the agenda for the 'big ugly' and all of the remaining legislation, such as marriage equality, rent control and mandate reform are tied in together. Cuomo is planning on keeping them in session until he gets all three.

Jun 23, 2011, 12:53am Permalink
Mark Potwora

Mr.Hens..The county likes to blame the growth in medicaid as the cause for the county tax problem..What is the school's excuse or the city's for that matter ..As far as medicaid who is going to pay ..We will wether thru county taxes or state taxes..Daniel what does mandate reform mean..All it means to me is we shift the tax burden on to the state who in turn raise my state tax to pay for it..In the end we will still all pay..Like Howard said Relief would be mandated tax cuts, especially on school districts.

But again, it would be insane to pass cuts, just as with caps, without mandate reform.That i agree with....

Jun 23, 2011, 9:17am Permalink
Dave Olsen

It was mentioned a couple of places in the article. I do agree with you, the impact is great, unfortunately just like WNY, those jobs are gone and ain't comin' back. We still have all the services and government designed for a larger, higher earning populace. A conundrum if ever there was.

Jun 23, 2011, 2:34pm Permalink
Ed Gentner

Job creation is endlessly talked about by our elected leaders who promise to create jobs then forget their promise the day after the votes are counted. The solution to our national as well as local economic growth is the return of real industry.

Over the last ten years more than a trillion dollars was wasted on the invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq, another half a trillion on the hap-hazard persuit of Osama Bin Laden and prosecution of a second war in Afghanistan.

Meanwhile our roads and bridges are crumbling, power grids reaching max capacity, schools failing, and all the elected officials do is argue about how to cut taxes for the corporations that have exported our industry at the expense of working men and women, bailing out the crooks on Wall Street who put the economy in the ditch.

If just half of the money that was squandered on the two wars and the Wall Street bailout was spent on infrastructure and revitalizing American industry our economy would be booming and the tension over tax caps and entitlements would be a moot point. Instead, we argue over the marginal issues of the economy that are the product of incompetent elected leaders who have sold us out to who ever bids the highest.

Jun 23, 2011, 3:27pm Permalink
Dave Olsen

You're 100% right on everything, Edmund. Instead of trying to bring back yesterday however, we need to think about what is going to be needed in the future. I hear a lot of whining about heavy manufacturing jobs sent overseas, while that is true, also they ain't comin' back. We need to try to figure out what this country is going to need in the future and start ramping up. If I knew that answer, I'd be investing what little i have. If you can figure it out, let me know, will ya?

Jun 24, 2011, 12:04am Permalink
Tim Howe

Invest in food Dave. If there is one thing we americans can do is EAT. It may not be the most healthy of foods but this country knows how to prepare and eat mass quantities of food. :)

On a more serious note, you say the manufacturing jobs are not coming back. What happens when the chinese people finally figure out that they should be getting more than that shiney new dime every day for working a 15 hour shift. Every single country that had an industry had an industrial revolution to go along with it. So when China starts demanding more money, maybe, just maybe we americans will wake up and say "gee for the amound of money they want to make crappy products that break a month after you get them home, american workers can make well made products for just a couple dollars more, maybe we should bring these jobs back home" Am I naive? Maybe...

China is all about quantity, NEVER quality.

Jun 24, 2011, 9:41pm Permalink

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