Metro Justice Update on Pataki's Planned Cuts

Article suggests action items to counter Pataki's planned cuts. Discusses how corporations evade paying taxes in NY State

By now you’ve probably heard the details on Pataki’s budget. His plan calls for cutting education, health care and state agency expenditures by billions of dollars, while at the same time going ahead with his reckless tax cut. He would eliminate pre-k programs, increase SUNY tuition by 35%, close community hospitals and nursing homes and mental health facilities. His budget would also shift taxes down to the county level, forcing more local cuts and property tax increases. Last week Pataki walked away from the budget process, leaving Bruno and Silver to come up with a plan.

These guys need to hear from their colleagues in the Assembly and Senate so NOW IS THE TIME TO BARRAGE OUR ASSEMBLYMEMBERS AND SENATORS with emails, phone calls and letters. Here is a link to send a fax to your assemblyperson and and Senator in Albany. http://www.abetterchoiceforny.org/contact_leg.php Metro Justice, along with dozens of other organizations around the state, is advocating for the creation of more revenue. See the details below on Closing Corporate Loopholes, a Temporary Surcharge on the Wealthy, and the Reinstatement of the Stock Tax.

If you aren't sure who your Senator or Assemblyperson is, this link
http://www.monroecounty.gov/org29.asp?orgID=29&customPage=polling
will tell you who your elected officials are (it's a good thing to post on your refrigerator or bulletin board for future reference). HINT- when you are entering your information into the fields, don't type in the word "Street" or "Avenue" or "Road" etc. Just enter the NAME of the street (eg., "Elm" not "Elm Street").

PLEASE FORWARD THIS EMAIL WIDELY

Close Corporate Loopholes- Enact Alternative Minimum Tax
On the 13th floor of an office tower in Wilmington, Delaware there are 500 corporations. How do 500 corporate headquarters fit onto one floor? Welcome to the world of corporate loopholes.
These corporations have set up "brass plate" passive investment companies (PIC subsidiaries) in Delaware to take advantage of a particular corporate loophole that allows the Delaware-based subsidiary to charge the rest of the company for the use of a trademark or patent. For example, Toys R Us didn’t pay any taxes to New York last year because the subsidiary in Delaware pulled the taxable profits out of the state by charging each store for the use of the Geoffrey the Giraffe logo. New York State loses over a billion dollars a year from loopholes like this. Corporations are now paying half of what they were paying (relative to the economy) compared with 25 years ago. When New Jersey enacted an alternative minimum corporate tax they raised close to a billion dollars last year.

End the Free Ride to the Wealthy

Bush’s tax cut will mean there will be a lot of money flowing back into New York. The wealthiest New Yorkers will be receiving a disproportionate share of that money—we should recoup that windfall. The tax system is totally backwards. When you take into consideration sales tax and property tax the wealthiest New Yorkers pay half as much of their income in taxes than the poorest New Yorkers. Over the past 25 years the wealthiest New Yorkers have seen their taxes cut in half while the rest of us have had to bear the burden of the rest of the budget. It’s time to end the free ride and institute a temporary .7% tax on individuals earning over $100,000 and a 1.4% tax on individuals earning over $200,000. This would raise over $3 billion.

Reinstate the Stock Transfer Tax

Up until twenty years ago New York raised billions of dollars by taxing stock trades made on shares listed at the New York Stock Exchange. If we restored the tax at half the old rate the state would take in $6 billion in revenue next year. Brokerage firms won’t flee to New Jersey because the tax is on the trade itself. It doesn’t matter where the office is located that is facilitating the transaction. Would this take a bite out of your holdings? Yes—one-twentieth of one percent. On the other hand your mutual fund is charging you about 50 times that amount to manage your fund. Such a tax is standard operation on the stock exchanges in London, Hong Kong, France Germany and Singapore.