Editorial

State should extend the tax cap

Posted

New York state’s tax cap on school districts and local municipalities is set to expire next year, but the State Legislature could, before this year’s session ends later this month, vote to extend it.

We would like to see the tax cap continue for another five years, at least. The Republican-led Senate has already passed a bill that would make it “permanent,” and that has moved to the Assembly. The tax cap is up for debate now because of its ties to New York City rent control laws, which expire June 15. “Permanent,” in this case, means only that the cap would not automatically “sunset,” or expire on its own. Any future legislature could vote to change or end it.

The tax cap was implemented in 2012 as a way of bringing skyrocketing property taxes under control. It is commonly known as the “2 percent” tax cap, but that is a misnomer. Two percent, or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower, is the “allowable growth factor,” but is just one part of a complicated formula that sets the actual cap for each taxing entity. The limit is on the tax levy, the total amount of money collected through property taxes.

While the cap applies to school districts, libraries, counties, towns, villages and special districts, it has had the most impact on school taxes, the biggest portion of a homeowner’s tax bill. School budgets are among the few spending plans that the public, not a several-member board, gets to approve or reject.

We believe that the cap has worked well and has accomplished what it was meant to. It has helped bring spending under more control across Long Island. School officials have been forced to take a hard look at spending, and have trimmed their budgets. Teachers’ unions have agreed to lower salary increases, and in many cases, pay freezes. We applaud school boards’, administrators’ and union officials’ skill and determination to make great things happen with fewer dollars than they’d like. Thanks to their efforts, core programs have been kept intact, and the quality of education on Long Island remains high.

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