“We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Recent surveys concerning our region gave us pause to think of cartoonist Walt Kelly”™s telling quote.
Who else do we have to blame but ourselves for letting us get into this fix in which taxes continue to rise and the economy continues to sputter?
The government says the economy is on the rebound. Not so fast say the authors of a new report on the Hudson Valley.
The economy hasn”™t hit rock bottom yet, say the members of The Marist College Bureau of Economic Research.
In regard to the nation, “unemployment will rise well above the 10 percent mark and will not begin to edge downward until the second half of 2010,” the authors write in the Economic Report of the Hudson Valley for the second quarter of 2009.
“Uncertainty in the domestic labor market coupled with anemic consumption demand has directly impacted and will continue to directly impact the willingness of firms to add to their domestic capital stock. Domestic investment in plants, equipment and software is an important engine of economic growth and job creation. If investment does not close the deflationary gap, then the gap must be filled by the government and/or foreign sectors.”
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Last week, talk of a tax credit for businesses that create jobs was gaining some traction among some Washington lawmakers and economists, according to news reports.
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But the gating factor would be: Who is going to pay for this?
We think we know the answer: the same people who are paying for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. And we all can see how well that is faring, especially in the creation of jobs.
What we don”™t need is more taxes. What is needed is tax reform as evidenced by the results of the U.S. Census Bureau”™s American Community Survey.
It”™s not often that finishing first is a bad thing, but in the case of the survey, Westchester County has the ignominious distinction of placing first among all counties in the nation as the highest taxing at $8,890. In the 5th spot was Rockland County at $8,430. In 10th place was Putnam County at $7,324. The 21st spot went to Orange County, $5,705; No. 34 was Dutchess County, $4,720 and at No. 93, Ulster County, $4,282.
Nassau County nabbed the second spot with $8,628.
The national median by the way is $1,897.
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If you want to pay low property taxes head south, say Louisiana; just watch out for the hurricanes. In other words, you get what you pay for. We here in the Hudson Valley are lucky for what is available to us in location, geography, economy and so forth.
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But that”™s little consolation for those being taxed out.
The Marist report also noted that it wasn”™t all doom and gloom for us here in the region.
The region”™s counties recorded a “substantial increase in home sales activity between the first and second quarters of the current year.” The report found the average and median selling price of an existing single-family house increased from “its near-term low in Columbia, Greene, Orange, Rockland and Westchester counties.” However, the average and median selling price of an existing single-family house in Dutchess, Putnam and Sullivan continued to decline.
What continues to be the 800-pound gorilla in the room is our high property taxes.
The governor, along with the members of the state Legislature should now take the time to consider the merits of consolidation of municipal services as a means to cut back on taxes. It”™s time to dust off “21st Century Local Government,” an April 2008 report by the state Commission on Local Government Efficiency and Competitiveness. It”™s only 76 pages long, dear lawmakers. The recommendations are not difficult to implement and they would actually save money.
The only difficult part is getting lawmakers to focus on the people they represent, rather than on next year”™s elections.
