NY corporate giveaway news from this week:
- In upstate Erie County – which to our knowledge has not yet seceded from New York State – the town of Amherst’s IDA is planning to flagrantly violate the state constitution by granting tax breaks for housing, in this case market-rate apartments (Buffalo News). As Erie County Executive (and Erie County IDA board member) Mark Poloncarz points out, market-rate apartments don’t need tax breaks because the projects will happen anyway. Poloncarz said he would “contest in a court of law any attempt by an IDA to give a county sales, mortgage, or property tax break to any new-build market-rate housing project.”
- Once upon a time, New York State taxpayers shelled out close to $1 billion for a solar panel factory in Buffalo. They ended up with a factory that does not make solar panels, but is powered by a competitor’s Chinese-made solar panels (Investigative Post).
- After the NY Senate’s budget bill called for an end to tax breaks for private jets and luxury yachts, the industries panicked (Gothamist). Now, one Assemblymember says the end of these tax breaks is “highly unlikely.” Last month, we called the tax breaks “among the most obscene in NY’s history.”
- Nearly two weeks after the April 1st deadline, state budget talks are still ongoing, and housing tax breaks are the main sticking point (NY Daily News). Mad props to Hell Gate for the headline of the week: “State Lawmakers Inch Closer to a Housing Deal That Will Likely Piss Everyone Off, Mostly Maintain the Status Quo.”
- An organization of elected officials called on the state to pass the Stop Climate Polluter Handouts Act in the budget.
–
If you got this from a friend, sign up here. Please send questions and tips to tom@reinventalbany.org. We look forward to hearing from you!