OPINION: New York Legislature Should Keep the Middle-Class Tax Cut

I'm urging my colleagues in the New York Legislature to reject the proposal in Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s budget that would delay middle-class tax cuts set to take effect this year. These tax cuts were enacted with strong bipartisan support several years ago. I am also inviting constituents to sign a petition on my website to preserve this critical tax relief: https://www.nysenate.gov/petitions/pamela-helming/keep-middle-class-tax-cut.

These middle-class income tax cuts have already been approved and promised to New Yorkers. It is irresponsible and wrong to take away this much-needed relief now, when so many hardworking families and small businesses are struggling.

The governor’s 2021-22 budget proposal would delay for one year a planned tax cut for the middle class totaling $400 million.

We need to protect taxpayers, who are already overtaxed and overburdened. Rescinding these middle-class tax cuts does nothing to help local families and small-business owners dealing with the economic impacts of the pandemic. New Yorkers deserve what’s been promised to them. The state must keep its word and keep the planned middle-class tax cuts in place.        

Pamela Helming, Republican, is a New York State Senator representing the 54th State Senate District, which encompasses all of Seneca and Wayne counties, as well as parts of Cayuga, Tompkins, Monroe, and Ontario counties. Contact Helming at helming@nysenate.gov. This article is drawn and edited from a news release her office issued on Feb. 3.