February 10, 2014. Executive Director Fred Floss testified before the Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means Committees on the Governor’s 2014-2015 Proposed Budget and Financial Plan. Floss noted the proposal for FY2015 is contractionary, since it cuts $2 billion in expenditures and only reduces taxes by $480 and will therefore be a drag on economic growth in New York State. He also commented on a number of tax proposals including the property tax freeze, corporate tax reductions and the estate tax proposal. If implemented, the financial plan leads to at least a “Decade of Austerity,” which hurts lower and middle class residents while giving the biggest benefits to the wealthiest New Yorkers.
The testimony also looked at the Governor’s circuit breaker proposal and found it was not targeted enough to give real relief to those in the most need, recommending (S3266/A5884 and S1002/A1941) as better alternatives. Floss also commented on a number of analytical flaws in the Ernst and Young study on corporate and manufacturing tax cuts which caused them to overstate the number of jobs and economic activity that would be created by these cuts.