Bill enabling St. Lawrence Co. to boost sales tax signed by governor
Photo: Laura Thorne, Creative Commons, some rights reserved
In a press release from Assemblywomen Addie Russell, she announced that Gov. Cuomo has signed legislation that would give St. Lawrence County the authority to increase the county’s portion of the state sales tax from 3% to 4%. This authority is held by most counties in New York now. If enacted by the county, sales tax would rise from it’s current 7% to 8%. Russell says:
“If the Board of Legislators enacts the increase, it should allow for more balanced revenue, providing relief to property tax payers”
Full text of the press release follows:
Assemblywoman Addie Russell (D – Theresa) announced that Governor Andrew M. Cuomo has signed her bill A.4761 which allows St. Lawrence County to adopt a local law to increase the county sales tax an additional one percent above the current three percent rate.“The Board of Legislators has requested this home rule legislation and I am pleased that it was passed by both houses and signed by the Governor. When it comes to home rule requests from local government, state government should respect the needs and financial challenges they face,” said Assemblywoman Russell. “If the Board of Legislators enacts the increase, it should allow for more balanced revenue, providing relief to property tax payers,” she stated.This authorization provides St. Lawrence County with the authority that nearly every other county in the state enjoys. Most counties in New York State have been able to increase their sales tax rate beyond three percent. The bill authorizes the county to adopt an increase for two years, and then must be re-approved by the state. The bill’s main sponsor in the Senate (S.5014) is Senator Patricia Ritchie.
Tags: economy, politics, st lawrence county, stlv
So why exactly does a local issue like this need approval by the useless, dysfunctional legislature in the first place?
“If the Board of Legislators enacts the increase, it should allow for more balanced revenue, providing relief to property tax payers,”
…either that or it will provide more incentive for online shopping.
There’s no meat left on the bones but the vultures continue to pick at them anyway. It’s what they do for a living.
State employees howl with cuts to state institutions as the government continues to fail to balance the state budget…yet wail with any tax increases.
There has got to be a middle ground, kids.
I’m not saying I’m happy about any of this…but…there has to be an end in sight or we will all be moving to a different state.
Perhaps the state should form a round table (meeting via skype) with reps from each county to decide budget issues. Or, talk to states who consistently balance their budgets to learn how they do it.
One thing I know for sure is that we spend more on educating each and every student then any other state (except for, perhaps, one or two).
State employees who don’t contribute to their health insurance = ridiculous!
I could go on but we New Yorkers suffer greatly from ‘anyone else but me’ syndrome.
I think New York is required by its Constitution to have a balanced budget. Unfortunately not so for the Federal Government.
And how long will it be till they’re back telling us they need more money and find some way to divert this increase away from our property taxes it’s supposed to lower
I’ll give that about 90 days. Remember all the times we were told that this or that would help pay for our schools. The lottery will pay for education, the casino will pay for education, etc?? Now the Governor’s big idea is to build more casinos to pay for education, but we should know better.
The big money in education is insurance, not benefits, and every bit of that money leaves the state.
By raising the tax rate 1% the county will see more money in the coffers. Does anyone really beleive Addie Russells’ statement about “more balanced revenue, providing releif to property tax payers” ? Does anyone really think we will see a reduction in the amount/or rate of county taxes?
This will result in the county taking in more revenue, which they will propmptly use up by spending more, I would bet big $$$s we will not see a reduction in property taxes. Any takers?
I don’t think any of the above criticisms are wrong. But let’s not forget that the biggest reason for that is un- and under-funded mandates from Albany. In the typical upstate county, 80 to 90 percent of their expenses are state mandated. That doesn’t leave much ‘fat’ to play with. They’re ‘attacking’ taxpayers because they aren’t being given a choice by the state. Your anger is justified… just direct it accurately.
You can include Hamilton County as one who has been authorized to raise its portion of the sales tax from 3% to 4%.
To me this is logical since sales tax is the only tax that visitors pay. With a population of about 5,000 but with as many as 100,000 visitors, it just makes sense to have the visitors help pay for some of the services they expect to have when visiting the county.
If you don’t like that, how about we start charging cars for entering the county? After all, this is a Park so why not charge an admission fee?