Golisano Surprises Tax Cap Rally
July 30, 2008
Rochester business and political leaders rallied with the New York Property Tax Cap Coalition today — calling on the state legislature to cap the annual growth of local property taxes. But they were questioned by Paychex founder Tom Golisano — who took the microphone to say that the four percent cap isn’t good enough.
Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi led the first of a series of business rallies across the state aimed at selling the idea of capping property tax growth at four percent — or 120 percent of the rate of inflation, whichever is less. Suozzi chaired the governor’s Commission on Property Tax Relief, and he says the tax cap will force state and local government to make tough choices on cutting spending. He says it will also force the state legislature to cut mandates that drive up local government spending.
But billionaire Tom Golisano dominated the question-and-answer period after the rally, saying the four percent cap won’t work. Golisano took over the podium for a time, then traded facts and one-liners with Suozzi from across the room. At one point he equated the four percent cap with “sticking a knife into someone, but promising not to stick in in any farther.”
Golisanso said property tax growth should be held at two percent — the rate of inflation — or preferably zero if it’s going to work.
Golisano said an average homeowner in Columbus, Ohio pays 37-hundred dollars in taxes a year; the average homeowner in Rochester about seven-thousand dollars. Under the four percent cap, Golisano said it will take a hundred years to equalize the rates between the two cities.
Suozzi said Golisano would be right — if the state stopped at just capping property taxes. Suozzi says it has to take the next steps of adopting a tax circuit breaker for homeowners, and cutting back on state mandates.
Suozzi also said property taxes have been going up by about seven percent a year. He said homeowners would have saved several thousand dollars over the past five years if they were capped at four.
Source: Public Broadcasting
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