Another Voice / New York economy
Small businesses need state to cap property taxes
Updated: 09/12/08 6:49 AM
The economic forecast continues to be gloomy for small businesses throughout New York State as the implosion of credit markets, plummeting property values, rising energy prices and skyrocketing health care costs weigh heavily on families and employers.
While it’s true that we in New York are stuck riding out this storm like everyone else, much can be done to improve the overall business climate in the state.
New Yorkers are saddled with the highest tax burden in the nation, a position that has made it difficult to attract entrepreneurs and retain businesses. Our oppressive tax burden is driving people, jobs and opportunities out of our state, as companies like General Motors and Oneida have eliminated or moved thousands of jobs to places where taxes are significantly lower.
Now is the time to throw businesses and homeowners a lifeline in the form of tax relief, starting with a cap on New York’s skyrocketing property taxes.
Small business owners strongly support the property tax cap, and for good reason. New Yorkers pay the highest property taxes in the nation. Local property taxes increased 42 percent from 2000 to 2005 — more than three times the rate of inflation, and are by far the largest and fastest growing component of most residents’ tax bills.
Capping property taxes would send immediate relief to beleaguered homeowners and small businesses that are facing turmoil in nearly every direction. Families could rest easy knowing that a growing property tax bill would not force them out of their homes, and New York would become a more inviting environment for entrepreneurs and employers to grow our economy.
Despite the hysteria many alarmist bureaucrats and special interest groups are spouting in Albany, a cap on property taxes would not threaten basic services or undermine the quality of public education. It would simply put a lid on a tax that is pushing homeowners to the brink and driving job providers out of state or overseas. It would force school districts to do what businesses and families do every day: make responsible budgetary choices and live within their means.
A property tax cap would limit the growth of property taxes to 4 percent per year. I suspect most small business owners and individuals would be quite pleased to see their income or revenue increasing by 4 percent a year.
In fact, the real threat to the long-term solvency of our state budget and our ability to invest in infrastructure and education is not tax relief, it’s a business climate that discourages investment in our state and slowly erodes our economic base, leaving fewer businesses and jobs.
It’s time for our elected leaders in Albany to start making tough decisions about the budget and pass a property tax cap that gives families and small employers some badly needed relief.
Mike Elmendorf is New York State director of the National Federation of Independent Business.
