By Allison Duwe
Buffalo, NY – Last week the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority, the county control board, voted to enter a hard control period. No public comment was accepted at the board meeting. No questions from the audience were entertained. The imposition of a hard control board is an unfortunate event that should have been avoided. It signals to the nation that somehow we are unable to govern ourselves using the normal democratic process of choosing elected officials and holding them accountable.
The media has reduced to sound bites the complicated issue of Erie County's budget woes and tax policies. The causes of Erie County's fiscal crisis aren't surface level or simple, so how can we possibly suppose that the solutions would be. I don't believe that there is a magic bullet business model fix that can turn things around and I fear that too many of us believe that a hard control board at the county level will make everything better. If we are going to build a better Erie County we best all buckle down and get to work. Let's stop talking about re-engineering and privatizing and start talking about investing in the public good.
First let's take a look at the big picture. Tax cuts on the federal level have led to decreased federal spending for vital community services, putting the funding burden on our state and local governments. Both New York State and Erie County governments followed the federal government's lead by cutting taxes, and we currently find ourselves unable to fund the services we as a community want and deserve- schools, parks, arts, senior services. Furthermore, federal and state tax cuts have disproportionately benefited the wealthy, while the services lost have disproportionately hurt the middle class and poor.
In 1972 New York State had a personal income tax with 14 brackets, but now there are only 5! If New York State hadn't eliminated brackets from the top and the bottom, in essence creating a flat tax, 95% of New Yorkers would be paying less in state income taxes than they pay now. Despite most of us paying less, the state would be collecting $7.7 billion more dollars in tax revenue each year. It sounds impossible but it's true, and the reason why it's true is because so much of the income growth in New York State over the past 20 years has been concentrated at the very top end of the income distribution. If NYS had been collecting this additional income tax revenue, it would not have had to cut and freeze state revenue sharing with local governments.
Let's be real. How in the face of income tax cuts and reductions in revenue sharing, not to mention what we lose in revenue due to corporate welfare, did Giambra possibly think he could slash property taxes and keep the county afloat? Gimmicky one shot revenue sources don't last long. Erie County's property tax is 45% lower today, despite public opinion and political spin, at 5.1 per thousand than it was in 1993 at 8.24 per thousand. In the long term we need to fix the tax system at the state and federal level and stop giving big corporations a free ride. In the short term we need to realize that if want to have the services in this area that will attract residents and businesses we can't avoid restoring some of the County's irresponsible property tax cuts, a more progressive tax fix than raising sales tax. The only other option is slicing into more of the muscle and bone of our county. It's true that taxes are a burden, but they are the price we pay for living in a country with democracy and opportunity, they are our investment in the future.
I think that our County Executive and our Legislators need to stand up and apologize for the mistakes they've made. They need to use their elected offices to champion changes to our tax structure at the state and federal levels. But, it is also up to us as voters to get more involved in turning our County around. Before we see our role in the democratic process further eroded we should call and write to members of the County Control Board and let them know what we stand for.
Listener-Commentator Allison Duwe is director of the Coalition for Economic Justice.
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