“Today’s overwhelming and bipartisan vote is the latest example that New York State government is continuing to employ a solutions driven approach to the challenges facing our state and its citizens,” Gallivan said. “This package cuts taxes across the board for individuals and for Western New York’s critical manufacturing sector, incentivizing continued private sector investment and growth.” The State’s tax code itself is undergoing an overhaul, tax brackets will now be indexed to reflect the rate of inflation and statewide taxes on middle-class taxpayers will be cut by $690 million.
“Protecting Western New York taxpayers has been priority number one since my first day in Albany. When these reforms are signed into law they will directly benefit over 60,000 middle-class families across my district and hundreds of small, medium, and large employers,” said Gallivan, who continued,” this legislation begins to responsibly address next year’s budget deficit by injecting fairness into the tax code, rationally reforming its bracket structure, and providing targeted corporate tax relief for thousands of Upstate manufacturing firms, whose health and vitality are essential to our regional economy.”By indexing tax brackets to inflation, the Middle Class Tax Cut and Job Creation Plan eliminates what is commonly referred to as the New York State “stealth tax”, which causes individuals’ income taxes to increase each year even as tax percentages remain the same.
“This truly is a comprehensive and conservative minded approach to reversing New York State’s reputation as the tax capital of the country. But the reforms must not end here. I am concurrently pushing for an income tax cap that respects the changes to the bracket structure implemented tonight, but at the same time, implements meaningful and stringent controls on the state’s ability to recklessly spend income tax revenue by capping the state’s annual income tax levy at two percent and refunding the excess revenue back to taxpayers,” Gallivan stated. “I will continue to work within the Senate, and with both the Governor and the Assembly to ensure continued tax relief and spending reductions remain state governments top priority.]]>
