Some Progress Made in Tax Battle, But There’s More Work to be Done

We are pleased to learn that Governor Paterson, Senate Majority Leader Smith and Assembly Speaker Silver have agreed to eliminate $1.3 billion in proposed taxes. The agreement eliminated from the budget two tax proposals vigorously opposed by the association - the 18% sales tax on non-diet soda and the tax on entertainment related spending (including amusement devices). While it’s heartening to have these threats removed there are still several very serious proposals under consideration. The remaining issues include:

• Expansion of the Tax Department's compliance tools, including requiring banks to report to the state all bank account activity for all sales tax vendors
• Expansion of the bottle bill to include non-carbonated drinks, water and other containers (does not include wine or liquor bottles) and state confiscation of unclaimed deposits
• Increase tax on flavored malt beverage from 11 cents per gallon (current rate for beer) to $2.54 per gallon (current rate for liquor 24% alcohol or less)
• Increase tax on beer from 11 cents per gallon to 24 cents per gallon and for wine from 18.93 cents per gallon to 51 cents per gallon

These proposals could become a part of the final state budget unless we are able to persuade state policymakers that they are bad for your business. Please take a few minutes to contact your Senate and Assembly representatives and urge them to remove these threats to your business from the state budget. You can find your State Senator on the Senate website, www.senate.state.ny.us and you can find your Assemblymember on the Assembly website, www.assembly.state.ny.us.