New Yorkers Prefer the Legislative Versions of the Tax Credit and Property Tax Rebate Programs
by Timothy G. Kremer, Executive Director, New York State School Boards Association

School board members have worked hard in recent months to craft school budgets that restrain spending and taxes, yet provide the quality academic programs that their communities expect. The Legislature’s school tax rebate program would have complemented this effort by remitting an average of about $400 to homeowners. We were surprised and disappointed, therefore, that Gov. Pataki vetoed the Legislature’s tax abatement plan essentially because it differed from his own.

The legislators had wisely rejected the governor’s proposal to limit rebates to residents of school districts that were able to limit spending growth to unrealistic contingency budget levels. His own Executive Budget sought to boost state spending by twice that level. Yet he expects school budgets can somehow by Albany fiat escape the effects of higher pension costs (which he approved in 2000), soaring health insurance premiums and record energy costs. The governor should be content to let communities decide school spending levels for themselves rather than trying to rig the results with a rebate bounty for “no” votes.

The governor has successfully lowered state taxes in part by shifting cost burdens to localities. He should not be shocked – shocked – that property taxes have risen. The Legislature has made common-sense improvements to his own rebate program. He should not allow pride to stand in the way of tax relief for homeowners.

The governor has similarly insisted on stacking the deck with his insistence on an education tax credit plan that would provide a competitive edge to private schools and undermine many inner-city public schools. This became clear with his rejection of the Legislature’s more general child tax credit that most families with children could have qualified for. If economic relief from the tuition burdens of private education were the only goal, the proponents should not have cared if the Legislature extended similar relief to others. But they and the governor did object. In so doing, they revealed their real goal was to enhance the marketability of private education by enacting a tax credit that would be of little or no value to most public school parents. The governor’s tax credit, limited just to parents residing in underperforming school districts, would have forced recipients to choose between keeping their tax credit and providing the resources the underperforming public school needs to improve. That’s bad public policy.

To his credit, the governor has let stand the lawmakers’ state school aid package. He no doubt recognizes that this is consistent with the will of the vast majority of New Yorkers. As he enters post-veto negotiations with the Legislature, the governor should recognize that most New Yorkers also prefer the legislative versions of the tax credit and property tax rebate programs.

By Timothy G. Kremer, Executive Director, New York State School Boards Association