MANGANO SCORES $1 BILLION IN TAX RELIEF FOR RESIDENTS ...

By Eden Laikin

Flanked by the bi-partisan, bi-county and statewide support of more than a dozen elected officials, Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano called upon the NYS Attorney General and the MTA to not appeal the yesterday?s court decision declaring the MTA payroll tax ?unconstitutional.?

Mangano called the Nassau Supreme Court ruling a ?$1 billion tax relief victory for taxpayers and businesses throughout the state,? and said he is researching whether the County can get back any of the $9.9 million it paid the MTA in payroll taxes since the ?unjust, unfair? tax was enacted in 2009.

Upon taking office in 2010, County Executive Mangano initiated the lawsuit against the State of New York and Metropolitan Transportation Authority for instituting the tax, which became law under New York State Governor David Paterson.? Since then, more than a dozen municipalities across the state, including Suffolk and Westchester counties, and the Villages of Floral Park, Mineola, Garden City and New Hyde Park, joined Nassau?s lawsuit.

?Two years ago, I led this effort to file suit against the MTA to stop the unfair payroll tax that was crippling our residents and small-business owners,? Mangano said.? The MTA must join our model of cutting waste, fraud and abuse and not look to the taxpayer for more funds. Here in Nassau County, my administration cut government spending by over $290 million and reduced the workforce by 20 percent.? The MTA can and must do the same.?

At a press conference this morning, Mangano called the tax a ?job killer? and said the court?s ruling sends a message to businesses around the country that they can afford to build and work here.

?The costly tax stifled economic growth by chasing employers and the jobs they create out of our region,? Mangano said. ?The court?s ruling helps guide a path for direct tax relief not only in Nassau County but throughout the State of New York and also sends a message to agencies like the MTA to become more efficient before looking to the taxpayers.

Mangano praised the County?s in-house legal team for this decision, and many of the other elected officials thanked Mangano for leading the charge in court against the payroll tax. ?MTA officials were hoping that the money collected through this tax would help plug its huge deficit. The agency hired outside counsel to fight the suit.

Originally, the MTA payroll tax expected to collect $1.4 billion by taxing all businesses in the MTA?s 12 NYS counties 34-cents for every $100 spent on salaries. This included public and private schools and BOCES.

Last year, the state approved a $250 million repeal of the tax, with a three-year systematic reduction starting in 2012, with small businesses (25 employees or less and with payrolls less than $1.25 million) becoming exempt from paying the tax; Private schools and BOCES would join public schools in being exempt. Businesses (outside NYC) with a payroll under $1.5 million would see their rate fall from to 0.11 percent. Those businesses with payrolls under $1.75 million would pay a 0.23 percent rate. By 2013, rates would be .12 percent before finally being eliminated in 2014.

The repeal affected 78.2% of all business, and estimates show 289,000 employers across New York would no longer have to pay the tax, while another 5,900 employers would have their rates reduced. In total, the MTA payroll tax will be reduced or eliminated entirely for 294,900 taxpayers.

But, it continued to be an unfair burden for the other 22%, which included libraries, non-profits and local governments. Nassau and Suffolk, as well as towns and villages with payrolls over that threshold, were still forced to pay the tax. Yesterday?s court ruling eliminates the tax for them.

County Executive Mangano said it cost Nassau government about $3 million a year and county business owners another $80 million. North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System said they pay more than $8 million a year in payroll taxes to the MTA.

Senators Jack M. Martins and Lee Zeldin introduced a bill (S-6206) to exempt all counties, towns and villages from having to pay the MTA Payroll Tax; and (S-6079A) to repeal the Tax for all libraries. The first bill remains in committee; the latter bill passed the Senate in June and was sent to the Assembly.

At the press conference, Martins said the MTA tax was a ?bad, poorly thought-out decision? that ?siphoned $270 million out of the local (Long Island) economy each year.?

?The money now stays here,? he said, ?and small businesses will be able to thrive.?

Zeldin congratulated County Executive Mangano and the County?s legal team and said the MTA has millions of dollars in assets that can be sold off to bring in Monday, as well as overtime and personal service contract abuse where money can be saved.

And Mangano invited MTA officials to sit down with him and his finance staff to find efficiencies in the agency and recognize wasteful spending there.

?Come, listen and learn,? Mangano said. ?I invite you to think innovatively, outside the box.?

Facing the possibility of paying back billions of dollars to municipalities and businesses across the state, MTA officials told Newsday yesterday evening that it would appeal the court?s ruling.

It?s unclear if that?s changed. Regardless, the group of elected officials gathered in Mineola this morning gave a ?loud and clear message? to state and MTA officials named as defendants in the lawsuit.

?Hear us,? Mangano said. ?Don?t appeal this thoughtful and just decision. Work with us to find efficiencies within the agency instead.?

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Source: http://nassaucountynewsnetwork.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/mangano-scores-1-billion-in-tax-relief-for-residents-and-job-creators-with-lawsuit-that-buries-the-mta-payroll-tax/

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