Cuomo Proposes New York Tax Overhaul, Infrastructure Fund

By musiclover - Mon Dec 05, 3:01 pm

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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo wants to overhaul the state’s tax system, use public-private partnerships to fix infrastructure and legalize gambling as he faces a deficit of as much as $3.5 billion next fiscal year.

“The state’s deficit is only a symptom and as governor, I want to address the illness,” Cuomo wrote in an opinion article e-mailed to media outlets yesterday. “The essential problem we face is a struggling economy.”

State revenue is “collapsing,” Cuomo said last week, amid shrinking Wall Street bonuses and job cuts in the finance industry, which accounted for more than 20 percent of wages paid by state businesses in 2010. New York has projected a $350 million deficit this fiscal year. New York, the third-most- populous U.S. state, had an unemployment rate of 7.9 percent in October, compared with 9 percent nationwide.

To promote job growth, Cuomo said he wants to create an infrastructure fund to finance the repair and development of highways, bridges and major construction projects, without specifying the amount of money involved. Legalizing gambling would also help create jobs, he wrote.

The plan could become the cornerstone of a special session agenda if lawmakers and the 53-year-old, first-term Democrat can agree on the details. Senate Republicans, who hold a majority, were told to return to Albany for a conference meeting on Dec. 7, Scott Reif, a spokesman for Majority Leader Dean Skelos, said in an e-mail. The majority-holding Assembly Democrats were told to come to Albany for a meeting tomorrow, Michael Whyland, a spokesman for Speaker Sheldon Silver, said Dec. 2.