Subsidy Sheet: NYS Comptroller: Decouple from bad federal tax laws

April 11, 2025

Opportunity Zones: NYS Comptroller DiNapoli subtly warned state government that if it does not “decouple” from parts of federal tax law – which include Trump’s Opportunity Zone program – the state’s tax receipts will suffer. Citizens Budget Commission estimates that starting in 2029, OZ subsidies could reduce New York annual tax revenues by $424 million ($284 million for the state, $140 million for NYC).

In related news, we wonder if New York is subsidizing this recent Opportunity Zone project funding Marriott Hotels in California (Silicon Valley [dot] com). As we noted in our Guns, Oil, and Crypto report, thanks to federal Opportunity Zone provisions mirrored in NY law, our tax dollars may also be underwriting gun mega-sellers, luxury condos with pet spas, and crypto mines running on fossil fuels.

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Stadiums: Governor Hochul says the new Buffalo Bills stadium, which is receiving $1.1 billion in handouts from New York, will pay for itself by … 2043 (Capitol Confidential). So the countless fiscal experts who have found stadiums are a complete waste of taxpayer dollars can sleep soundly at night. Also: Apparently there’s lots of property for sale around the new stadium, but no one wants to buy it (Buffalo News).

We appreciate that at least someone is talking about stadium subsidies in Washington. Congressmember Beyer (D-VA) introduced long-shot legislation to limit the use of tax-exempt funds for sports stadiums (WVTF), but at Field of Schemes, Neil deMause cautions that it wouldn’t end the use of taxable bonds, so at best would be a “moderate speed bump.”

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More corporate giveaway news from this week:

  • The City details how luxury real estate developers get huge tax breaks – then get even more tax benefits by challenging assessments of property values.
  • Good Jobs First released its 2024 annual report, which includes its work with Reinvent Albany to stop IDAs from abating taxes intended for schools.
  • The NY Daily News editorial board beseeches NY legislators to focus on priorities bigger than the Tesla/SolarCity factory. In other Tesla news, part of the “slush fund” the company received from the state for its Buffalo facility (funded with a billion dollars from NY) went into building a $1.6 million cafeteria (Investigative Post). 
  • Micron’s stock has fallen 47% in the last year. The company is building a state-subsidized chip fab just north of Syracuse. The fab has been heavily touted by the governor, who misleadingly claims Micron will be investing $100 billion.  
  • Shares in Albany-area hydrogen power cell producer Plug Power have declined 62% in the last year (as of this writing), and the company is teetering on insolvency. Plug Power is a big favorite of New York governors seduced by its compelling narrative of green, high-tech manufacturing. Unfortunately, high-tech manufacturing is also high-risk, incredibly expensive, and an extremely inefficient way of converting tax dollars into large numbers of good jobs.

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