Cuomo, Skelos and Silver: We Have A Deal
Legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo this afternoon announced they had tentatively forged a massive deal on restructuring the state’s tax code, reduce the MTA payroll tax and provide $50 million in storm aid.
Under the new code, the top tax rate is set at $2 million and cuts nearly $700 million in taxes, but also is able to close nearly half of a $3.5 billion deficit.
The agreement, aimed at reviving the state’s stagnate economy, is unusual in both its broad scope and end-of-the-year timing.
In a statement, Cuomo praised the bipartisanship of both houses.
“Our state government has come together in a bipartisan manner to create jobs, grow our economy and, at the same time enact a fair tax plan that cuts taxes for the middle class,” Cuomo said in a statement. “We are investing in projects that will restore our state’s infrastructure and put thousands of people to work. We are cutting taxes on middle class New Yorkers and small businesses, which will inject nearly $1 billion into our economy. We are targeting new tax credits to hire inner city youth and reduce unemployment in some of the poorest areas of our state, as well as providing direct aid to communities struggling to recover in the wake of this year’s severe storms. This would be lowest tax rate for middle class families in 58 years. This job-creating economic plan defies the political gridlock that has paralyzed Washington and shows that we can make government work for the people of this State once again. I commend Majority Leader Skelos and Assembly Speaker Silver for their partnership in our effort together to create jobs for New Yorkers and put our state’s economy on a path for growth.”
The $690 million tax cut affects about 4.4 million and expires in December 2014, the end of Cuomo’s first term.
As we reported earlier, the reshaping of the tax structure will generate $1.9 billion in new revenue for the state — reflecting that the move is not “revenue neutral” as some fiscal conservatives had hoped for.
The proposal also includes a $50 million flood reovery program, a $25 million tax credit program for inner-city youth hiring and a reduced manufacturing tax rate.
Officials also agreed to a $1 billion infrastructure fund which will leverage $10 billion in direct capital investment.
The statement notes that the proposal is within the state’s bond cap. Leaders added they had verbal agreements on design-build legislation (aimed, it seems, at reconstructing the Tappan Zee Bridge downstate as quickly as possible), as well as an agreement to push for an expansion of casino-stlye gaming in New York.
It’s important to note that everyone seemingly gets everything in this deal. Taxes are being cut at nearly every level, but the super wealthy who make above $2 million aren’t getting as big a cut as they were in line to receive at the end of the year if the PIT surcharge of 2009 was allowed to expire.
The package also takes some pressure off of Cuomo next year as all 212 seats are up for re-election in what is expected to be an especially contnetious redistricting year.
Here are the new brackets, which we outlined earlier:
| Print article | This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on December 6, 2011 at 2:10 pm, and is filed under Andrew Cuomo. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |
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Sheldon Skelos



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