2018 NYS Budget: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
April 6th, 2018
After a week of feverish (and mostly closed-door) budget negotiations, Gov. Cuomo and state lawmakers reached a final agreement on the state’s 2018-19 budget last week. Lawmakers gave final approval to the budget bills in the early morning hours last Saturday.
(Read Unshackle Upstate’s statement on the budget agreement here.)
The Good:
Thanks to Unshackle Upstate and its advocacy partners, many of the most outrageous proposals sought by Governor Cuomo and the Legislature were ultimately rejected, including close to $1 billion in new tax increases. The following new or increased taxes were defeated and NOT enacted as part of the final budget:
- New carbon fiber broadband deployment tax.
- New sales taxes on energy service companies.
- Deferment of business tax credit programs for brownfields cleanup, historic rehab and manufacturing.
- Health insurance windfall tax.
- New taxes on ride-sharing Upstate.
- Broad-based universal business tax (UBT) across industries and types of employers.
The middle class tax cuts enacted in 2016 were also protected.
Members of the Senate Republican Conference, particularly from Upstate, were instrumental in opposing these potentially devastating new tax increases.
The Bad:
Some new revenue actions were ultimately included in the final budget deal:
- An optional payroll tax and new charitable funds that are intended to allow certain state residents to avoid new federal limits on the deductibility of state and local taxes.
- A new tax on prescription opioids.
- Regulatory reform, a long time priority of Unshackle Upstate, ultimately fell off the negotiating table. This was a disappointment but we look hope to achieve some balanced, responsible reforms before year’s end.
The Ugly:
In the dead of night, a public employee union special interest protection plan was passed with little fanfare. The provision forces members of public employee unions to pay union dues. This is seen as a pre-emptive effort to block the impact of an anticipated U.S. Supreme Court decision that will provide individual union members with the freedom to choose such payments.
Additional highlights of the state’s $168.2 billion budget for 2018-19 include:
- About $1 billion in additional school aid;
- Continued adherence to the Governor’s 2% spending limit on state operations;
- An anti-sexual harassment agenda that includes banning most nondisclosure agreements and mandatory arbitration in sexual harassment complaints;
- Measures to enhance elections security;
- An 8th round of the Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) program;
- A commission to consider pay increases for state legislators and agency heads.
With the state budget enacted, lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Albany until April 16.