March 18, 2008

Folks,

Yeah, I know... no one ever used the terms "victory" and "property taxes" in the same sentence but I did just now and hope to do it again.

This evening, the Putnam County Legislature meeting in special session, voted 7-0 to support Kevin Cahill's "Equality in Education Act" which will move funding of our schools from property taxes to a graduated income tax, will maintain quality education for every student in the state and effect reliable cost controls in our districts - if it ever comes out of committee in Albany. This "memoriam" was put forward by Putnam Valley Legislator Sam Oliverio. Hats off to you, Sam!

Every politician in the state is sitting around waiting for the (ex) Governor's Blue Ribbon panel to come out with their recommendations for property tax relief in May, but I can almost guarantee they will not back a permanent solution and will, as politicians often do, take the easy way out by supporting the LaValle or the Galef/Little bills which, while nice, aren't real solutions. They are however, more politically palatable to politicians than Cahill for his bill does re-institute a graduated income tax structure in New York State.

For all these years, those earning $25,000 a year and those earning $bazillion a year were paying about the same percentage rate in State income taxes. Under Cahill, those earning in the highest brackets will pay more of their fair share in taxes to help fund this program. That is the part that unnerves politicians. Tax the super rich their fare share? Oh The Horror!

Hard to believe, but true.

But at the same time, that onerous property tax bill for local educational programs will disappear and the vast majority of New Yorkers will come out ahead on this. More importantly, New Yorkers currently struggling to pay their school property tax bill, our seniors for example, will see permanent relief and help. No other bill in Albany does this.

Our job now is to tell these guys that we want a permanent solution to the crisis and to bite the political bullet to get us there.

And you can quote me on that.

Tonight the Putnam County Legislature took a huge leap of faith, speaking about how this bill *is* a solution in the hope of injecting into Albany what the county legislature in Carmel showed tonight - the political will to take the plunge.

While Rome was burning the taxpayers were suffering and while Rome couldn't get its shit together enough to put out the fire, a handful of dedicated citizens did. It's time to unify across the state to put this fire out once and for all.

A hearty Mazel Tov to Sam Oliverio for his leadership. To Vic Tiship who pinned Sam down on this and for harassing the staff at Assemblyman Cahill's office for information (Connor, you will thank him in the end!) and for his tireless dedication to the cause. To Legislators Vinnie Tamagna and Dan Birmingham for their kind and supportive words. To Kent Fiscal Watch for re-posting our notices and coming to the meeting tonight and to everyone here at PlanPutnam who has put up with me these last few weeks while Vic and I worked over this issue.

History, in a sense, (a Republican county Legislature voting to support a Democrat's bill), was made this evening and I can only hope that this becomes the impetus for political support across the state to move this bill out of committee and on to passage. I also urge every taxpayer organization out there to singularly back the Cahill Bill and join PlanPutnam in using the words, "victory" and "property taxes" in the same sentence once again. Soon. Very Soon.

Wherever in the state you are reading this, write your state reps and tell them, if Putnam County thinks this is a good bill there must be something to it!

Move it out of Committee. Pass it. Send it to the Senate. MAKE IT THE LAW.

(And you citizens, please stop taking NO for an answer.)

Keep those cards and letters coming for Permanent Property Tax Relief Now!

Jeff