XPost: alt.politics.economics, ny.politics, sac.politics
XPost: talk.politics.guns

Taxing the Rich, School Funding, Housing: N.Y. Budget Battle Begins

What do free bus rides, new taxes on the wealthy and a stiff drink in a
movie theater have in common? All three have the support of lawmakers in
the New York State Legislature.

These ideas and thousands of others were tucked into the Senate and
Assembly budget proposals released this week, offering a glimpse of legislators’ positions as Albany’s annual budget battle royale kicks off.
Gov. Kathy Hochul must come to a consensus with leaders in the State
Senate and Assembly on how to spend more than $230 billion by the state’s
April 1 budget deadline.

The fact that all three leaders are Democrats does not mean there is any
less to haggle over: Taxing the rich, tenant protections and school
funding are all up for debate once more as Ms. Hochul, a centrist from
Buffalo, will be forced to find common ground with an increasingly left- leaning Legislature.

And while those debates have sometimes become intractable — last year’s
budget was a full month late, after Ms. Hochul insisted on tightening the state’s bail laws — Democrats in both houses are eager to avoid a
prolonged ordeal with a consequential general election on the horizon.

In January, Ms. Hochul unveiled her $233 billion spending plan, which
called for significant investments in mental health care, public safety
and artificial intelligence research, as well as $2.4 billion to address
the migrant crisis in New York City. But she also proposed cuts to
education funding and health care that have drawn criticism.

In their proposals, Democrats in the Senate and Assembly pushed back
against Ms. Hochul’s desired changes to education funding while offering
their own proposals on how to solve the state’s housing crisis, make transportation more effective and accessible, and more.

Here’s what to know as budget talks commence.

A fight over education funding
Both the Senate and Assembly rejected key changes to school aid that Ms.
Hochul proposed in an effort to reduce education spending, and instead
kept in place the formula that the state uses to determine how much aid is distributed to individual districts. They allocated $1 million for a study
on the issue.

Ms. Hochul’s proposals have been a point of contention on both sides of
the aisle. Though the governor’s budget would increase overall education
aid by about 2.4 percent compared with last year, about half of the
state’s school districts would receive less state aid, and no districts
would receive as much as they had anticipated under the current formula.

Ms. Hochul’s budget would base funding in part on the average cost of
living over the past 10 years, as opposed to the previous year. It would
also end a decades-old practice that guarantees districts never receive
less state funding in a school year than they did the year before, even if enrollment declines.

Editors’ Picks

Something Old. Something New. Something Thrifted.

Travel Advisers: When to Let a Professional Plan Your Trip

‘Free to Be … You and Me’ Took the Revolution to the Playground
The governor argues that these changes are necessary to respond to falling enrollment and would help distribute aid in a way that more accurately
reflects districts’ level of need. But district leaders and lawmakers have
said the changes would negatively affect many schools across the state, including in many low-income, rural areas.

The Assembly and Senate also rejected the governor’s proposal to offer
Eric Adams four more years of control of New York City schools. The New
York City mayor has had control of city schools since 2002, subject to
renewal by the Legislature — an arrangement that has frustrated some
lawmakers and parents who would like to see a new model.

Raising taxes on the wealthiest New Yorkers
Both the Senate and Assembly proposed raising personal income taxes by
half a percent for people earning over $5 million until 2027. Such an
increase could add nearly a billion in new revenue each year, they
estimated.

Asked on Tuesday about the proposal, Ms. Hochul was clear: “Raising income taxes is a nonstarter for me,” she said.

The governor has been staunchly opposed to raising taxes, seeing the move
as counterproductive to her goal of stemming New York’s nation-leading population loss.

There has been much debate, however, on whether tax increases on the
wealthy actually drive New Yorkers out of state: An analysis from the
Fiscal Policy Institute found that it was in fact the working and middle classes who were leading the exodus, trends they tied to affordability
issues more broadly.

Both houses also proposed an increase to the corporate tax and new tax
credits for working families. The Assembly would expand two existing
credits, the earned-income tax credit and the Child Tax Credit. The Senate proposed a new credit, known as the Working Families Tax Credit, that
would offer $550 to married couples earning under $130,000.

Could this be the year for housing?
Last year, Ms. Hochul proposed an ambitious plan to spur housing
construction across the state. But that proposal and all others collapsed
last year as all sides failed to agree.

Democrats in the State Senate advanced a package that aims to keep people
in their homes while building new affordable housing. The proposal
includes initiatives to speed commercial to residential conversions,
encourage granny flats and other conversions and free up funds to help
upstate renters avoid eviction.

Parts of the package — including proposals to replace an expired tax break
for developers, and raise the cap on what landlords who own rent-
stabilized buildings can charge after improving a unit — are sure to be celebrated by landlords and developers.

But the package comes with one major condition: Senate Democrats say they
will not make any deal that does not include protections similar to those
in the Good Cause Eviction legislation — a controversial bill that would
limit landlords’ ability to evict tenants or raise their rent above 3
percent in times of low inflation.

The Assembly’s proposal also includes incentives for office conversions
and for building new housing on state-owned land. And while it makes
reference to protecting tenants from “capricious rent increases and unreasonable evictions,” it makes no mention of the tenant protection legislation the Senate prioritized, in a blow to progressives.

Addressing climate change
Both chambers proposed allocating millions for climate projects, including electric vehicle infrastructure, heat pumps and solar panels.

But the Senate went further, removing a raft of tax breaks for the fossil
fuel industry and throwing its weight behind a piece of legislation prized
by environmental advocates under which companies that have released a significant amount of fossil fuels into the atmosphere must also
contribute to a fund to help the state adapt to climate change.

The Senate also put forth legislation to remove subsidies for gas
companies and cap energy bills. Ms. Hochul had embraced a portion of the proposal in her budget, but jettisoned some of the measures that the
bill’s proponents said would help keep costs down for ratepayers.

A high-speed train, free bus lines, and movie theater cocktails
While most of the budget language focuses on changes to New York’s
existing programs, there are also some newer ideas.

The Assembly and Senate proposed an extension of New York City’s free bus
pilot program to include three lines in each borough. The Senate also
allocated $10 million for a “higher-speed rail” project, though it offered scant details on what that might be.

The Senate also rejected Ms. Hochul’s proposal to make to-go drinks
permanent. But in its place, lawmakers proposed a change that would allow moviegoers to enjoy cocktails at theaters, regardless of whether those
theaters serve food.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/12/nyregion/ny-budget-taxes-housing.html

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)