6 months ago
BUFFALO, NY - New York State is so broke, it's withholding tax refunds. But that's not stopping some elected leaders from trying to restore a popular tax break.
Several Democratic Leaders in the State Senate, including Senator William Stachowski (D-Lakeview), announced Tuesday that they intend to restore some of the STAR property tax rebates for state homeowners, while capping local property and school taxes.
You can watch the entire Thursday morning press conference outside the Senate Chamber in Albany.
State lawmakers cut the rebates from the budget in 2009. This new proposal would provide STAR rebates for homeowners with the highest property-tax-to-income ratio, and restore the previous amounts to all seniors.
"We just think it's a complete bill," Stachowski said. "It's the best way to move forward and we believe we'll be able to pay for it."
But the announcement left some political observers scratching their heads, particularly because New York State's budget deficit is $9 billion, and growing. State lawmakers have given no indication that they are close to reaching an agreement to balance the budget with Governor David Paterson. State leaders have discussed borrowing at least some of the money to close the deficit.
To pay for the restoration of the STAR program, Senate Democrats have suggested using the money the state is likely to collect from taxes on cigarette sales on Indian reservations. Senate leaders also indicated they would cut overtime for state employees.
A day before the press conference, Paterson announced he is following through on his plan to temporarily withhold state income tax refunds from New Yorkers because the state has run on of money, and needs the refunds simply to pay its bills.
Additionally, some of the same Senate Democrats (including Stachowski and Antoine Thompson of Buffalo) calling for the restoration of part of the STAR rebates also sent Paterson a letter last week indicating that they will not support a budget that includes any cuts in state aid to school districts.
"If this happens, it means that there's got to be a whole lot more of borrowing to go on to cover things, but it's being done not for good government purposes, but to get people elected," Canisius College Political Analyst Michael Haselswerdt said.
REPORTER: Given these proposals, do you in some sense think they've lost touch with reality?
HASELSWERDT: It would seem like they're trying to avoid it (laughs).
By air time Thursday, neither Senator Stachowski nor Senator Thompson had returned calls to 2 On Your Side, regarding how they intend to balance the budget while restoring STAR rebates and opposing any cuts to school districts.
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