NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- We are digging deeper into a tax plan revealed Tuesday by the Republican-led New York State Senate. One of the proposals includes freezing, then eliminating, school taxes for seniors.
Eliminating school taxes for seniors is just a part of the proposal. 2 On Your Side's Kelly Dudzik spoke with two people Tuesday for analysis on this topic. One is the superintendent of one of Western New York's largest school districts, and the other is a research director at an independent think-tank in Albany.
Senate Republicans want to give New York taxpayers $5 billion in tax breaks over the next ten years. That's despite the state facing a $4.4 billion deficit for the next fiscal year.
Part of the plan includes freezing, then phasing out, school taxes for seniors over the age of 70 after ten years.
"Something that is, I think, is probably one of the worst single property tax proposals any legislative majority in Albany has ever embraced," says E.J. McMahon.
McMahon, who is the founder of the Empire Center didn't hold back Tuesday.
"I think that's a bad idea because it's really unfair, and unnecessary, now that we have the tax cap, and has no conceivable justification other than politically pandering to senior citizens," he says.
The Niagara Falls City School District relies on property taxes for 20-percent of its budget.
"Anything that we can do to help our senior citizens who are on fixed income is a great thing, but my initial reaction as a school superintendent is where is the money going to come from to support schools and education, which is critical," says Supt. Mark Laurrie with the Niagara Falls City School District.
Laurrie says suburban districts, which rely on property taxes for a greater portion of their budgets, could be impacted even more. He wants to know how the state would make up for the loss in revenue.
"Is it going to be an increase in sales tax? Is it going to be an increase in some other tax on non-seniors?" asks Laurrie.
"If you look at the sponsor's memorandum that was filed with the bill where you have to put down what's the fiscal impact, it said none to the state, which is really not very honest. Really, basically it would shift more of the taxes around," says McMahon.
We will learn more about the proposal as the state goes through its budget process this spring.