Unshackle Upstate, a business-advocacy organization, has released its new economic-revitalization agenda (ERA) for Upstate. The proposal includes five points designed to deliver “broad-based” tax relief and stimulate job growth across upstate New York, Unshackle said in a news release. Citing upstate New York’s history of high taxes, economic decline, and population loss, the […]
Unshackle Upstate, a business-advocacy organization, has released its new economic-revitalization agenda (ERA) for Upstate.
The proposal includes five points designed to deliver “broad-based” tax relief and stimulate job growth across upstate New York, Unshackle said in a news release.
Citing upstate New York’s history of high taxes, economic decline, and population loss, the organization emphasized the “importance” of enacting this plan in the 2014 legislative session.
Upstate communities have been “victimized by a three-headed monster for decades,” Brian Sampson, executive director of Unshackle Upstate, said in the release.
“Our New ERA for Upstate plan will help combat the burdensome taxes, high unemployment rates and population losses that have plagued Upstate for far too long,” said Sampson. “This five-point plan will reduce taxes for people and businesses that need it the most. It will also create thousands of good-paying jobs and boost the Upstate economy.”
The plan calls for reducing state income taxes by 25 percent for Upstate residents earning less than $50,000 annually, which would cost about $225 million annually, Unshackle said.
It also calls for eliminating the 18a energy assessment for Upstate manufacturers, which would cost about $190 million in the 2014-2015 fiscal year, according to Unshackle Upstate.
The cost would decrease in succeeding years as the state phases out the tax, the organization added.
Unshackle Upstate’s plan also calls for reducing the corporate-franchise tax (9-A) for Upstate businesses and eventually repealing it altogether in 2018. The reduction would cost about $273 million in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
In addition, the organization would like lawmakers to reduce the state sales tax from four percent to two percent in Upstate counties that have had “significant” declines in population and high unemployment rates.
Unshackle Upstate also wants New York to develop the Marcellus Shale for natural-gas drilling, which it contends would generate about $78 million in state revenue in the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
In total, the plan will cost $860 million, which is equivalent to 0.6 percent of the projected 2014 state budget, according to Unshackle Upstate.
The plan addresses what Unshackle has been calling for “since day one, real and impactful tax relief for Upstate,” Lou Santoni, president and CEO of the Greater Binghamton Chamber of Commerce, said in the news release.
“Equally important is the recognition that natural-gas development will positively reshape the Southern Tier and Upstate economy. These are things that need to be done if New York is serious about improving Upstate,” Santoni said.
Unshackle Upstate is a coalition of more than 80 business and trade organizations representing upwards of 70,000 companies and employing more than 1.5 million people.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com