Put sports funds toward schools
I am offended by the tactic of putting a million-dollar sports complex as the top priority for Albany’s public schools. This was portrayed as tax free. It’s not. Taxes are going up yet again, and there...
View ArticleSpend gifts or stop asking
Our opinion: Contributors to the state’s tax-form checkoff charities deserve accountability on when and how the money is used. In moments of generosity, you may be tempted to say yes to those telephone...
View ArticlePublic schools are public for a good reason
Gov. Andrew Cuomo wants to spend millions of dollars to push his Parental Choice in Education Act (“Private schools, public tab,” May 19). He wants to break up the so-called public education monopoly....
View ArticleAct will hurt public schools
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has rebranded the Education Investment Tax Credit as the Parental Choice in Education Act. While “choice” is more palatable than “tax credit,” it’s still what it was before: A...
View ArticleGas tax could help infrastructure
There are still a few of us who recall a time when we pulled up to a gas pump and remained sitting while an attendant pumped as many as 12 gallons of gasoline into our tank. And, while it was pumping...
View ArticleClock ticking on reforms
Our opinion: Two weeks remain in the state legislative session and much remains to be done. Some key bills and urgently needed reforms can and should be acted upon – and at least one bad idea dropped....
View ArticleConsolidation will pay off in long run
I would like to support and reinforce Paul Feiner’s well-written commentary concerning the need for consolidating various public services among adjacent towns and municipalities (“State needs to guide...
View ArticleMr. Cuomo’s rich reward
Last Friday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo sought to dampen expectations that anything significant will get done in the remaining days of the legislative session. That includes, in Mr. Cuomo’s view, any major...
View ArticleType of education a matter of choice
In response to the letters about Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s education tax credit (called the Parental Choice in Education Act), parents have a choice: To not pay and send children to a public school or to pay...
View ArticleN.Y. far too taxing on its motorists
Sumner Shapiro in a letter (“Gas tax could help infrastructure,” June 1) wrote about taxing motorists to pay for improving our infrastructure. My question is: How much of the price of a gallon of...
View ArticleGive voters an option when presenting tax cap
Before state leaders make the property tax cap permanent, let’s make it right. There is little question the cap has changed expectations. Schools expect to keep increases below the cap to ensure...
View ArticleNew York’s hefty to-do list
It’s not often that New York tinkers with its constitution. So when it does, it should, to slightly recast a phrase, be in order to form a more perfect Empire State. Yet now, with momentum building for...
View ArticleNYSUT misrepresents education tax credit
New York State United Teachers’ campaign against the Parental Choice in Education Act is despicable. NYSUT is genuinely misrepresenting the tax credit and private education. If middle income families...
View ArticleIncreases occur despite tax cap
The article “Tax cap called school threat,” June 10, reported state education lobby groups have concerns with the current property tax cap and its constraints on increased revenues for schools....
View ArticleTax credit erodes public schooling
Preserving the separation of church and state requires our New York state representatives to reject legislation that would give tax credits to those contributing to public and private (including...
View ArticleWoerner correct on public schools
We have recently seen a barrage of mailings, robo calls and advertisements attacking the state Assembly for not passing the Parental Choice in Education Act. My assemblywoman, Rep. Carrie Woerner,...
View ArticleTax breaks accountability
The practice of granting tax breaks to businesses that promise to create new jobs will soon be getting a little more honest. It seems as though few small and midsize business developments – the kind...
View ArticleTime to act on warming
The image of the president of the United States gazing at a receding Alaskan glacier effectively dramatizes the urgency to curb global warming. The unprecedented rate by which the Arctic ice is melting...
View ArticleA casino in every home
A proposal to allow online poker companies to run their operations out of New York is the state’s latest entry in the race to the bottom. Perhaps it will net the tens of millions of dollars that Sen....
View ArticleA better way to better pay
Just a few months ago, a $15-an-hour minimum wage in New York sounded like pie in the sky. In a matter of a few weeks, it has come to seem more and more within reach, not just for those in the...
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