By Dan Murphy
The property tax burden in New York State will be slashed by nearly 30 percent under a plan developed by New York gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro, who made the property tax cut announcement last week in an address before the New York State Business Council, should he be elected governor in November.
Molinaro calls the massive property tax cut plan the “Empire State Freedom Plan,” which he said would “finally liberate property taxpayers, small businesses owners, farmers and families from the dream-crushing tax burden they are forced to live under with Andrew Cuomo. It can be done, I will do it, and we will move forward as a state toward greater prosperity,” he said.
Details of the plan include eliminating what Molinaro calls the “Cuomo Corruption Tax,” making the 2 percent property tax cap permanent, extending the tax cap to New York City homeowners, and enacting a statutory state spending cap and requiring a supermajority vote by the Assembly and Senate before any state tax increases can be approved.
One of the other key ingredients in Molinaro’s property tax cut plan is to have the state take over the costs of Medicaid. Currently, Medicaid payments are paid for by county governments across the state, and have become a massive piece of Westchester County – and the other 62 counties budgets.
Molinaro, who serves as Dutchess County executive, said he also wants to eliminate other state mandates on local governments, so those local governments can then reduce property taxes.
“Over five years, our plan will reduce the property tax burden on New Yorkers by almost 30 percent,” he said. “That’s right – almost 30 percent. Now I know the special interests in Albany will tell you it’s impossible; they’ll say it will gut services. It won’t. Certain editorial boards who believe we can never spend enough will sound alarms. They’ll be wrong.
“I promise you, there will be those on the left and on the right who will disagree with parts or all of the plan,” continued Molinaro. “That’s OK though – like we have done throughout the campaign and I have always done as a public official, we will lay out a detailed blueprint and a pathway to implement it.
“And then, of course, there is Andrew Cuomo. He will talk about how it’s all local government’s fault; how he has done everything possible. Then, of course, he will say its Donald Trump’s fault… Finally, he will pronounce from on high that it can’t be done. Well, Andrew Cuomo will be right – he can’t do it. He has failed to do it. But I can, and I will. The solutions are right in front of us – if we only have the courage to implement them.
“The Empire State Freedom Plan is a cold-eyed course correction to the corruption, waste, dysfunction and abuse that has dominated the last eight years,” said Molinaro. “No more gimmicks, no more lies, just real solutions aimed not only at providing relief but also at rationalizing a system that is out of control. To address the issue in a realistic and comprehensive manner it is necessary to adhere to several fundamental governing and budgeting principles.”
According to the candidate, the state must “first and foremost” eliminate the “corruption tax – the cost of backroom deals, bid rigging, no transparency, no accountability, no fairness…” Then the state must curtail the future growth of property taxes by eliminating unnecessary unfunded mandates and providing real, sustained mandate relief; modernize and measure the delivery of services to achieve efficiencies and guarantee outcomes; and, finally, ensure that property taxes are assessed and administered in an equitable manner.
“The bottom line: Make government smarter, less expensive and more effective,” said Molinaro, who also asked for term limits to help “end corruption and restore faith in a broken state government.”
Molinaro, in his comments to the NYS Business Council and is his standard stump speech, reminded New Yorkers that he grew up in a family that sometimes had difficulties making ends meet.
“Their struggle isn’t something foreign to me,” he said of those currently struggling. “It’s not something I read in a book, saw in a movie or learned in a classroom. I lived it – and in some ways I still do… My family was one of those that struggled too hard. Standing in a Social Services line with my mom, working three jobs to make ends meet. Paying for groceries sometimes with food stamps. I even thought that the power company called every family a few times a week to make sure the power was still on.
“But I learned about hard work, I learned about sacrifice, and I learned about our obligation to each other – all from my mother. She asked only for a chance to work and the opportunity to make things better for her boys. Along the way we needed a little help from government and in those times our state, the Empire State, provided that little bit of help to ease the struggle, to give us hope,” said Molinaro.
While polling over the summer had Cuomo with a 25-point lead over Molinaro, there has been very few polls since. In September, the Reform Party commissioned a poll from Liberty Opinion Research that found Cuomo’s lead was cut to just 46 percent, to 43 percent for Molinaro.
If you included all of the minor party candidates, the poll had Cuomo at 31 percent, Molinaro at 30 percent, Cynthia Nixon on the Working Families Party line at 14 percent, independent candidate Stephanie Miner at 5 percent, Libertarian candidate Larry Sharpe at 5 percent, and Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins at 5 percent.
In a press statement, Reform Party Chairman Curtis Sliwa, said: “Bad news for Andrew Cuomo: Over 53 percent of New Yorkers surveyed believe it’s time to give a new person a chance, which is buoying Molinaro, who still is unknown by a majority of New Yorkers… While a multi-candidate race closes the margin even further to only one point, what is clear (is) that we are headed to a competitive general election in November, which is good for New Yorkers who deserve a real choice.”
The poll could be an indication that Cuomo’s “America was never that great” gaffe has hurt his popularity with New York voters.
The Cuomo campaign has begun to run a slew of advertisements against Molinaro, including one ad that calls Molinaro “one of the worst pay-to-play politicians,” regarding allegations that his wife received a job from a company doing business with Dutchess County government.
“The ad, paid for by (the campaign of) Andrew Cuomo 2018, has run so many times on cable that my wife has memorized the jingle at the end,” said Molinaro. “You can’t clean up government with dirty hands.”
