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Union offers a tax fix NYSUT proposes return to a progressive tax structure March 2, 2006 New York state could raise nearly $8 billion — money that could be used to close the achievement gap for disadvantaged students — and cut taxes for an overwhelming majority of taxpayers by returning to a progressive income tax structure, union leaders say. "New York needs to increase the state's share of educational funding," said New York State United Teachers President Dick Iannuzzi. "The best way to do that would be to restructure the state income tax and place a greater share of the burden on wealthy New Yorkers." In testimony submitted to the joint Senate Finance and Assembly Ways and Means committees, NYSUT showed the state could generate billions in revenue by returning to a system of 14 income tax brackets vs. the current five income tax brackets. Research by NYSUT and the Fiscal Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research and education organization, show that adjusting the 1972 state personal income tax brackets and exemptions for inflation would result in a tax cut for more than 90 percent of New Yorkers, including working families. The billions in increased revenue could be used to increase state support of higher education and health care, and help resolve the funding imbalance cited in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision, said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. In the CFE decision, special masters appointed by state Supreme Court Justice Leland DeGrasse in 2004 ordered that New York City schools needed an infusion of $5.6 billion in operating aid over four years, plus $9.2 billion for facilities, to fulfill the educational mandate of the state constitution. State government has not fulfilled this order. "It is crucial to closing the achievement gap," said Lubin. In poll after poll, the public has said they support a progressive income tax proposal if the funding goes to education, Lubin added. "We also believe there are a number of revenue sources that have been overlooked, including tax loopholes that enable very profitable corporations to avoid paying any corporate taxes in New York state," Iannuzzi said. |
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