Hunting for relief - Westfair Communications

Awaiting the fixes

It has become an unholy litany of unbearable numbers seared into the minds of business owners and economic development agencies.

Please recite the following as a dirge:

The highest local taxes in the nation as a percentage of personal income: New York.

They are 79 percent above the national average, only in: New York.

The second-highest combined state and local taxes in the U.S.: New York.

Median property taxes are 96 percent above the national median: New York.

Property tax levies grow at more than twice the rate of inflation: New York.

The first, second and fifth highest-taxed counties in the nation: Westchester, Nassau, and Rockland ”“ all in: New York.

It”™s no wonder Gov. Andrew Cuomo assigned a team of public and private sector members to address and offer recommendations on cutting these business-killers.

Identifying and targeting unneeded and ineffective mandates are key to cutting property tax rates. Cut taxes and the state can focus on attracting businesses, rather than struggling to retain them.

This week, the team will present its findings to the governor.

The New York State Association of Counties, which has its Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario on the team, has reported that more than 230 ideas for relief have been submitted.

The report probably won”™t bode well for hospitals and medical groups since Medicaid is at the top of the mandate pyramid with its insatiable appetite for dollars.

A separate team is focusing solely on improving and cutting the costs of the state”™s Medicaid program. That team has been criticized in the media for being made up of hospital executives and lobbyists. If true, don”™t count on major cuts.

It looks like we”™re going to have to pin our hopes at tax cuts to come through the mandate relief team.

In turn, we remain hopeful that the governor will follow through and right the state before it capsizes in a sea of insolvency.

Running on empty

We”™re not sure how much longer Americans can tolerate the incessant rise in prices at the gas pump.

We”™re not sure why there hasn”™t been a cry for relief.

Have we become inured to these times where grocery prices rise or the cost of an item remains the same but the package grows smaller?

These times are truly trying our wallets.

So-called experts this time around are blaming geopolitics for the current rise in gas prices.

Problems in Libya aside, the bottom line remains that oil and gas are commodities traded to make money.

The first major oil crisis occurred in 1973 when OPEC imposed an embargo against the U.S. Energy conservation was urged. Enthusiasm grew for finding or creating sources of alternative energy.

Five months later OPEC turned the oil tap back on.

Everyone happy.

Alternative energy takes a backseat.