From The Right Side

Irondequoit Post Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Guest essay by county legislator Vincent Esposito

Editor,

Although the proposal by legislator Esposito is welcome, it does not address the root of the problem.  Instead of protecting some home owners from increased taxes he should be fighting to reduce the overall tax rate.  He is right that property tax relief would create jobs and improve property values.  But protection from increases is the reverse of what he should be promoting. The real problem is the high combined tax rate.  The gross disparity in property and school taxes when compared to the rest of the state is seldom revealed.  My combined tax rate is approximately $43 per thousand while downstate in the Hamptons, the home of the multi, multi, millionaires, the tax rate is  $9 per thousand.  Not only is that extremely unfair, it shows the glaring inequities in the state tax codes.  The only way to reduce these killer tax rates is to reign in the exorbitant pensions and benefits that the public employee unions have imposed on the rest of the population.   Governor Cuomo has made a feeble start on this but has not gone far enough.  The union members who get these benefits are also subject to the extremely high taxes that are required to pay their benefits.  A vicious circle that cannot be maintained and continues to drive people, businesses and wealthy tax payers out of the state.  A downward spiral that cannot continue for much longer.

R. J. Brinkman