Tax Relief
As a result of fiscal reforms from the last three years, the State is poised to go from a $10 billion deficit when the Governor took office to a $2 billion surplus by 2016-17. Rather than using this revenue to increase spending, Governor Cuomo proposed to instead cut taxes for New Yorkers and businesses to provide taxpayers relief and grow the economy. The proposals have been informed by the hard work of the New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission and the New York State Tax Relief Commission. Click here to learn more.
Expedite Transmission Projects that Rely on Existing Transmission Corridors and State-Owned Rights-of-Way
The State’s transmission infrastructure is antiquated and is preventing excess power in Upstate New York from entering the downstate region where demand is greatest. Transmission bottlenecks on the aging electric grid increase utility bills and result in adverse environmental and economic consequences when older, less efficient plants must run more frequently. In order to meet the State’s electric needs as well as preserve the quality of life in local communities, the Governor proposes expediting projects that would be built wholly within existing transmission corridors or buried along existing State-owned rights of way such as waterways and highways.
Launch REDC Round 4 to Create Jobs and Attract International Investment
The Governor will launch “Global NY” which will link START-UP NY and the Regional Economic Development Council initiatives to attract international investment and jobs to Upstate New York. In this fourth round of the REDCs, the State will recognize and reward plans that incorporate Global Marketing and Export Strategies. The Governor will also create the START-UP NY Global Initiative to attract foreign direct investment and grow exports by leveraging the START-UP NY program.
Host Global NY International Business Conference
In 2014, the Governor will host the Global NY Summit on World Trade and Investment to reach foreign investors and create a peer learning network among local and regional leaders.
Continue to Attract Visitors Upstate and Outdoors
Governor Cuomo will continue to boost the Upstate economy by encouraging New Yorkers and visitors to explore and enjoy the area’s unique treasures. The Governor will create the NYS Adventure License – a driver’s license that includes optional icons for all of an individual’s lifetime license designations, such as the Boater Safety Certificate and the newly created lifetime State Parks’ Empire Pass. The Governor also proposed a bold new outdoors initiative to create 50 new access projects to connect hunters, anglers, bird watchers and other outdoor enthusiasts to untapped State-owned lands. The Governor will also make the revitalization of New York’s park system a continuing priority to attract new visitors. The Governor today unveiled the first ever I Love NY tourism smartphone app. Developed in partnership with AT&T, the app provides comprehensive geographically targeted tourism, recreation, lodging, and dining options in every region of the state. The app is available right now on the Apple app store and Google Play.
Encourage Targeted Investment through Key Industry Summits
Governor Cuomo will host a second round of industry summits to identify additional economic growth opportunities, including a new Upstate-Downstate Food-to-Table Agriculture Summit in 2014 to connect the Upstate agriculture industry to downstate consumers and markets.
Bring World-Class Destination Resorts to Upstate NY
In 2014, the State will begin taking steps to bring world-class destination resorts to Upstate, including appointing a Gaming Facility Location Board to select bidders through a merit-based and transparent process. The process will be designed to produce the best and highest quality bids and bidders in order to increase tourism and encourage Upstate economic growth.
Create the NY Genomic Medicine Network
The Governor proposed establishing the NY Genomic Medicine Network – a partnership that will link the medical community in New York City with the University at Buffalo's computational infrastructure and biomedical research expertise at the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus – to develop Upstate New York as a national center for genomic medicine research and jobs.
Tax Relief
As a result of fiscal reforms from the last three years, the State is poised to go from a $10 billion deficit when the Governor took office to a $2 billion surplus by 2016-17. Rather than using this revenue to increase spending, Governor Cuomo proposed to instead cut taxes for New Yorkers and businesses to provide taxpayers relief and grow the economy. The proposals have been informed by the hard work of the New York State Tax Reform and Fairness Commission and the New York State Tax Relief Commission. Click here to learn more.
Freeze Property Taxes for Working Families
New York’s real property taxes are among the highest in the nation, and one of the main reasons is the large number of local governments that place high burdens on taxpayers and harm the business climate. To address this issue and incentivize local governments to share services, the Governor proposed to freeze property taxes for two years, providing nearly $1 billion in tax relief. Residents will be eligible for the freeze in the first year if their local governments stay within the property tax cap. During the second year, local governments must also take concrete steps to share services and reduce costs in order to remain under the freeze.
Create a Property Tax “Circuit Breaker” Based on Ability to Pay
1.9 million low- and middle-income taxpayers pay an effective real property tax rate relative to income that exceeds their income tax rate. To help these families and individuals, the Governor proposed providing tax relief based on ability to pay for households that earn up to $200,000, ultimately providing $1 billion in tax relief by the time the circuit breaker is fully phased in.
Provide Tax Relief for Renters Facing Significant Housing Burdens
In New York State, 3.3 million households rent their homes, and more than 829,000 low-income renters pay more than 50% of their monthly cash income on housing costs. To provide meaningful tax relief to millions of New York’s renters, Governor Cuomo proposed a refundable personal income tax credit that takes into account a family’s size. The credit will be available to renters with incomes below $100,000 and will provide over $400 million in tax relief for 2.6 million renters.
Corporate Tax Reform
Streamlining the State’s corporate tax structure is another way to improve New York’s business climate and promote economic growth across the state. To do this, Governor Cuomo proposed merging the bank tax into the corporate franchise tax and lowering the rate to 6.5 percent. This would be the lowest corporate tax rate since 1968 and provide $346 million in annual tax relief to New York’s businesses.
Estate Tax Reform
New York is one of only 15 states in the country that imposes an estate tax, and New York currently taxes significantly more of an individual’s estate than the federal government, creating a perverse incentive for elderly New Yorkers to leave the state. To address this burdensome tax, Governor Cuomo proposed increasing New York’s exemption threshold to match the federal government, and lowering the top rate to 10 percent over four years.
Accelerate the Phase-Out of the 18-A Utility Surcharge
New Yorkers pay some of the highest energy rates in the nation, and the Temporary Utility Assessment (18-A) adds to this burden for families and businesses, particularly energy intensive industries. It is scheduled to phase out by 2018, but Governor Cuomo proposes accelerating the phase-out by $200 million per year, immediately eliminating the temporary surcharge for industrial customers, and hastening the phase out for residents and other businesses .Click here to read details of the Governor’s tax relief plan.
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Governor Cuomo proposed establishing a Commission on Youth, Public Safety & Justice to provide concrete, actionable recommendations regarding youth in New York’s criminal and juvenile justice systems. New York remains one of only two states in the nation whose age of criminal responsibility – the age at which youths are treated as adults – is just 16.
As a result, in 2012, nearly 40,000 16- and 17-year-olds in New York had their cases handled in adult or criminal court, where they are less likely to receive the services they need. The ultimate goal of the Commission will be to create a roadmap to help these young people become productive, successful adults.
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Since its launch, the NY Youth Works program has helped more than 13,000 of New York’s inner city young people find employment at 1,270 businesses. Governor Cuomo proposed increasing the size of the program in 2014 from $6 to $10 million for each of the next four years, incentivizing employee retention with additional tax benefits, and providing training funds to employers through the existing Job Linkage Program.
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Last year, the Governor launched House NY to build and restore more than 14,000 affordable housing units statewide. This year, the Governor proposed a $100 million additional investment to build and preserve 3,000 additional affordable housing units in multi-family developments. This construction would also lead to the creation of more than 3,500 new construction jobs.
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To enhance the State’s efforts to help formerly incarcerated individuals successfully re-enter and remain in the community, and ensure that State policies regarding a broad spectrum of issues – housing, health care, education, employment, and veterans’ services, among others – are aligned with both federal and local efforts, the Governor proposed creating the New York State Council on Community Re-Entry and Reintegration. This Council will bring leadership from a wide array of agencies together with key community stakeholders, including non-profits and re-entry service-providers statewide.
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In the last three years, New York State has made great strides in increasing equal opportunity in contracting for Minority- and Women-owned Business Enterprises (MWBE). MWBE participation met and exceeded 20 percent for the first time in the program’s history. To continue this success and increase MWBE economic growth, Governor Cuomo proposed increasing the number of MWBE certified firms by an additional 2,000.
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To support and expand economic opportunity for New York veterans and military families, Governor Cuomo proposed steps to establish a 5% goal in the awarding of state contracts to service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses. The Governor will also convene a Veterans and Military Families Summit this year to address the unique issues faced by these New Yorkers and determine how the State can better serve them.
Launch the Smart Schools Bond Referendum
Encourage the Best and Brightest STEM Students to Stay in New York
Reward the Most Effective Teachers
Expand and Launch Another Round of NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020
Make Full-Day Pre-K Universal in New York State
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Launch the Smart Schools Bond Referendum
The Governor proposed a $2 billion “Smart Schools" bond referendum to help bring all of New York schools to today’s high-speed, high-tech world. If approved by voters, the initiative will provide students with state-of-the-art classrooms and leverage technology to transform education. "Smart Schools" funds will be allocated to each school district.
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Encourage the Best and Brightest STEM Students to Stay in New York
The Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – “STEM" – fields are one of the fastest-growing sectors of New York’s economy.
To encourage the best and brightest students to pursue STEM college degrees and build their careers in New York, Governor Cuomo proposed providing full tuition scholarships to any SUNY or CUNY college or university to the top 10 percent of high school graduates if they pursue a STEM career and then work in New York for five years.
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Reward the Most Effective Teachers
Building on the universal implementation of the teacher evaluation system, the Governor proposed creating a Teacher Excellence Fund to help school districts reward the most effective teachers. Highly effective teachers in participating school districts will be eligible for up to $20,000 in annual supplemental compensation through the Teacher Excellence Fund.
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Expand and Launch Another Round of NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020
The Governor proposed another round of NYSUNY 2020 and NYCUNY 2020 that have made the State’s public universities incubators of academic excellence and economic growth.
This year’s program will expand New York’s strategic investment in higher education performance by awarding plans that use technology to improve academic success and economic development, leverage opportunities for public-private partnerships through START-UP NY, and provide experiential learning.
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Make Full-Day Pre-K Universal in New York State
Expanding on last year’s program to provide full-day pre-kindergarten to children in the highest-need communities, Governor Cuomo believes that it is time to fulfill the State’s goal of truly “Universal Pre-Kindergarten" access for all children.
- Transcript: Governor Cuomo's 2014 State of the State Address
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Press Release: Governor Cuomo Outlines Agenda for 2014: Transforming the Economy, Replacing Government Dysfunction with Results,Putting People Above Party, and Restoring New York as National Progressive Leader
- ABNY Presentation
Photos: from Governor Cuomo's 2014 State of the State Address