by Dan Smith

April 15th is commonly known as National Tax Day (well, this year it’s April 17th). That’s the deadline for average Americans to file their annual federal and state income tax returns.

But assigning one day with that title is misleading, because EVERY day is Tax Day—especially for New Yorkers.

On top of all the taxes we pay from our incomes throughout the year, we all face a myriad of other taxes and fees. They’re everywhere and in nearly everything. New York has been clever about hiding them. They include: sales tax (8%), property tax (1.8%), taxes within cable and mobile phone bills (25%), taxes on electric and gas bills (50% higher than the national average), hotel taxes (5.9%), airport fees and taxes ($30 fee at JFK), alcohol ($0.14/gallon for beer, $6.44/gallon for liquor) and cigarette tax ($4.35/pack), gas tax ($0.62/gallon), car registration fees ($75 and up to $25/year), tolls on roads and bridges (between $5 and $15), dozens of taxes on health insurance and healthcare expenditures, and many, many more.

While most people in our country face these taxes and fees, New Yorkers get hit harder than anyone else.

Yes, we’re Number 1.

Several independent studies have recently shown that New Yorkers have the highest tax burden in the nation. And it isn’t even all that close.

To demonstrate this in another way, the Tax Foundation has calculated each state’s “Tax Freedom Day”—the day when the average taxpayer has earned enough to pay his or her share of taxes for the year, including federal, state and local taxes and fees. After that date, you get to keep all your own money. So, earlier is better. The national average Tax Freedom Day is April 19th. The best state is Alaska, whose relatively low taxes allow them to celebrate theirs on April 4th.

New York is, by far, the worst. Our Tax Freedom Day is May 14th. That’s 11 days later than any other state.

11 days!

The reasons for this are pretty simple:  our state’s spending has been rising quickly, while people are leaving the state. More cost spread over fewer people. And it’s getting worse. Sadly, we’ve ranked in the top three in the statistic of most moved-out-of-states for the seventh year in a row.

As history has shown, people flee wars and bad government. For example: refugees fleeing war-torn Syria, Cubans floating to Florida, North Koreans running through the DMZ and away from Kim Jong-un.

And now people are fleeing New York state.

Having the highest taxes and so many people leaving our state is no coincidence. They are cause-and-effect. People are leaving New York because of the high tax burden, the ever-growing set of rules and regulations and because those taxes are squandered by our corrupt and incompetent politicians in Albany.

None is worse than Governor Andrew Cuomo—who’s presided over New York for those seven years.

The source of the problem is spending, of course. Spending on incompetence, waste and corruption. And since New York can’t print its own money or borrow endlessly, the money has to come from taxpayers in New York.

But most New Yorkers have had enough. Many are leaving. Those who stay need to demand change—deep spending cuts to permit deep tax cuts. These changes, along with a slashing of rules and regulations, will attract people and businesses to our state—further diminishing the tax burden.

It’s time to demand change!

The post Tax Day is Coming appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

Fewer Rules, More Businesses—It’s Really as Simple as That

By: Dan Smith

New York gubernatorial candidate Larry Sharpe released a campaign video of him walking through his old neighborhood in New York City. Sharpe describes how his neighborhood has changed. Many of the small, mom-and-pop retailers have disappeared, leaving a mixture of vacancies and big corporate retailers.

While there’s nothing wrong with big chain stores, there is a big problem when mom-and-pop stores disappear. Businesses sometimes close, but why have other small entrepreneurs not found a way to come in and revitalize neighborhoods? A sense of local flavor is being lost, and we’re left with the blight of vacancies and only the big players, which can often seem sterile.

Sharpe explains why.  He describes all the rules and regulations that a business must follow in order open its doors, and in order to keep them open. Only big, corporate retailers have the expertise to comply.

It used to be as easy as renting a store and hanging an “OPEN” sign on your door.

But today it’s harder . . . MUCH harder.

It’s tough enough to create a business which satisfies customers and gets them to come back again and again. The burden of countless rules and regulations make it impossible for many to stay open.

If you want to open a business in New York, you are likely to require most of the following:  a New York State business license or permit, a New York State professional license, a local city business license or permit, a city inspection, place of assembly permit, a business registration, an Employer Identification Number, worker’s compensation insurance, general and commercial liability insurance, disability insurance, sales tax vendor registration, you must comply with commercial recycling law and adhere to local noise ordinances with regard to construction and noise your business may make. Your space must comply with disability laws and any landmark laws which apply seemingly everywhere in New York City. You must only hire licensed professionals; you may require union labor. Any employees you hire must be handled carefully: dozens of city, state and federal employee postings in your place of business, requirements for healthcare, overtime laws, fair labor practices and minimum wage laws.

I could go on and on . . . and on. But you get the picture.

And then there’s taxes: sales tax, sin tax, bottle collection taxes, unincorporated business taxes, employee tax withholdings, employer portions of unemployment and social security taxes, filing fees, licensing and registration fees, real estate tax, city taxes, New York state taxes and federal taxes—some due bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually.   Again, I could go on.

But you just wanted to open a store. How did this get so hard?

The bureaucratic mindset, that’s how. The flawed notion that more rules make us better off. It’s also the flawed notion that since businesses bring in money, it’s an easy place to go for every agency and jurisdiction to go to take a cut.

Bureaucrats know rules, they don’t know how to run a successful business. They only know how to destroy otherwise successful businesses.

And that’s what’s been happening.

Customers should decide whether a business succeeds or fails. But bureaucrats are taking over that job.

Even if you think some or all of these rules are wise, how can it be wise if ultimately small businesses just can’t comply and disappear?  It seems that many of the same people who support “buy local” initiatives are the first to cheer for yet more rules and regulations and taxes and fees that are killing locally-owned businesses.

Where’s the wisdom in that?

The post Let’s Support Main Street appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

By: Dan Smith

Many New York farmers are hurting, as they are across the nation. The USDA estimates that 42,000 farms have folded in the past four years—many in New York. This is the largest agricultural downturn since the 1980’s and second largest since the Great Depression. Many are calling on President Trump to provide more subsidies, tax breaks and trade protections for American farmers. The New York Farm Bureau and other New York lobby groups are calling on Governor Cuomo and legislators in Albany to do the same.

You’d think that with the countless policies, rules and programs and trillions of dollars spent over the years helping American farmers, we’d have a growing and prosperous agricultural sector. But this just isn’t the case and all of our government’s meddling is a source of the problem, not its cure.

It’s easy to have empathy for struggling farmers, but these programs rarely do more than misdirect resources and mask the real underlying problems. The Economist calls such farm policies, “milking taxpayers”; and think tanks and pundits, left and right, recognize many farm policies as highly destructive.

Despite the reports of family farms receiving the benefits from our government agricultural policies, it’s been reported that “the largest 15 percent of farm operations and the richest farmers and landowners, with incomes and wealth that are many times the national average, receive over 85 percent of all farm subsidies.” In short, our farm policy starts to look a lot more like cronyism the closer you look.

Higher taxes and higher food prices are no way to help. We shouldn’t subsidize these businesses, no matter how romantic the notion might seem.

But there are ways we can help New York farmers.

Eliminate the Minimum Wage and Other Price Distortions

While we should not ask government to enact policies which distort markets—often raising taxes or food prices, we also should make certain that government does not hinder farmers, either. But that’s what happens with the minimum wage: it raises labor costs.  Like many businesses in New York, farmers are feeling the pinch of the minimum wage hikes especially hard. With labor as a primary cost, many farmers just can’t afford to keep up with the escalations each year. The minimum wage is New York farmers’ chief worry these days and it’s hitting  farmers’ bottom line hard, with profits down more than 65% since 2013, according to the New York Farm Bureau.

But while the New York Farm Bureau’s proposed solutions is to seek yet more tax credits to offset the hit minimum wage increases have brought, one might ask: why not eliminate the minimum wage in the first place? Why should New York taxpayers pay farmers so that they can pay employees more, why shouldn’t farmers just pay workers what they’re worth?

Another New York agricultural program requires that large portions of school lunches be sourced not based solely on obtaining the best value of food for our children, but often based on Albany’s political preferences—New York-based food sources. While this sounds helpful and while local-sourced food is popular these days, it shouldn’t be mandated—as it is often much more expensive than can be obtained elsewhere, costing local school districts and driving up our property taxes, which are amongst the highest in the nation.

Further, in New York and at the federal level, it is often the case where farmers’ excess crop are purchased through price support programs or where farmers are paid not to farm at all.  These assistance programs can largely be met by farmers on their own by obtaining crop insurance or through their use of other financial products. Farmers are then free to make their own choices without becoming dependent on government handouts or confused by their market-distorting policies.

Eliminate Licensing and Countless Rules and Regulations

Just as Governor Cuomo shouldn’t be handing out money and favors to farmers, he shouldn’t be standing in their way, either. Cuomo just announced yet more licensing and rules for wineries, breweries and distilleries. These rules, as well as all licensing in agriculture make it harder for New York businesses to get off the ground and compete with other firms across the nation and around the World.

The New York Times reported last month that New York farmers are suffering from “regulatory fatigue.” They lament the “thick rule books laying out food safety procedures, compliance costs in the thousands of dollars and ever-changing standards,” and “unending layering of rules and regulations as more government agencies have taken an interest in nearly every aspect of growing food.” They estimate that apple orchards alone must follow 12,000 different rules and restrictions—a 26% increase from just 10 years ago. All of which drives up prices, with no discernable improvements in quality—with many of the rules amounting to “overkill,” at best but often prove to be totally useless.

Leave Farmers and Their Customers Alone

The bottom line is that farmers and food retailers should be left alone to determine the best way to serve their customers. Taxpayers shouldn’t even be participants in distorting agricultural markets.

And consumers should be left to make their own choices in the tradeoffs between quality and price.

To do otherwise is not only wasteful but problematic in that it masks real problems and often rewards cronyism and punishes productivity.

The post New York’s Overmanaged Farmers Are Suffering appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

Taxes and Regulations Stifle Development

Franchise tax, ENI tax, business and investment capital tax, minimum taxable income, fixed dollar minimum tax, subsidiary capital tax, MTA tax, state filing fee, personal income tax—these are just some of the taxes New York state imposes upon local businesses. The tax rate in the state for businesses ranges from about 6.5%-7.1%. Because of the state’s high personal income tax, sales tax, and property tax rates, New York is considered “one of the least favorable states for new and small businesses.”

In terms of regulations, the list of things required to start and run a business in New York City is extensive. It includes certificates, inspection requirements, permits, licenses (individual and business), registrations, rules and regulations, signage requirements, and much more. These cost time and money to obtain and follow, which mega corporations have to spare. Small businesses, on the other hand, like mom-and-pop, brick-and-mortar shops don’t necessarily have the money to adhere to these requirements. They hinder business development and growth.

The IRS considers any company with 500 or fewer employees a small business. But New York has lowered that standard to any company with fewer than 100 employees. Imagine having only a few hundred employees in your business, but being regulated as if you employed over a thousand. New York should make it easier for small businesses by at least categorizing them the same way they are recognized federally.

Lowering Taxes Helps Businesses Grow

Which taxes should be lowered to make it easier for businesses to flourish in the state? One example is the capital gains tax. According to the Cato Institute, “reduced capital gains taxes can generate greater financing of young companies by angel investors and venture capitalists.” As we’ve all seen on ABC’s Shark Tank, small businesses and start-ups rely on those investors to get the push they need to make it big. If the capital those investors receive is taxed too much, the investors are less likely to invest, and entrepreneurs are less likely to even try to start their business in the first place.

The individual income tax in the state should also be lowered, since small businesses file as individuals. Big corporations only pay about a half percentage higher tax rate than small businesses. That’s not to say that we should increase the corporate tax rate in the state, since “state corporate taxes are borne mostly by workers, not shareholders, because it’s easier to pay local labor less than it is to attract global investors at lower rates of return.” So if the corporate tax rate were also reduced, we’d start to see wages increase. And if the individual income tax rate were reduced, there would be much less of a burden on small businesses.

Regulations and taxes make it much more difficult for small business owners to make a worthwhile profit. These taxes and regulations inhibit business growth and hinder start-ups. This results in less competition in the market and fewer choices for consumers and wage workers (which regulations are intended to help). Legislating minimum wage, occupational licenses, zoning and parking requirements, etc. do nothing to help small businesses. Most of these laws are written by big corporate lobbyists who know that it will only subdue any challengers that the Wal-Marts and Targets of the state may have to compete against. Pizza Hut can afford a higher tax rate and can pay their employees $15/hr. Salvatore’s Pizzeria cannot.

The post Small Businesses Need Small Government: Lessening Tax and Regulatory Burdens appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

By: Kari Bittner

New York State collects the highest taxes of every state in the US. Since taxes are the funding for the government, you might think that collecting the highest taxes means New York State also provides the best services. Not only are the services far from number one compared to the rest of the US, but there are unintended consequences further restraining and harming the residents and businesses of New York.

New York has the highest state and local tax burden in the country, and our spending is out of control. And it’s not just one type of tax that’s exceptionally high, but many, including state and local income tax, state and local sales taxes, licensing fees, property taxes, mobile phone taxes, and school taxes. That doesn’t even consider the myriad fees for code violations from regulations imposed at village, city, county, town, and state governments. The national average for the state and local tax burden is 9.9%, while New York sees a state and local tax burden of 12.7%. I repeat, the highest tax burden in the country! And what do we have to show for it? We do not have the best schools, we do not have the best health care, we do not have the best anything, but for all that money, we should. And on top of that, these taxes cause hidden harm to citizens and businesses of New York.

High Tax Burdens Are Obscured With Cross-Government Deductions

Each year, taxpayers navigate thousands of pages of tax code with base taxes, deductions and credits – not just for their states, but for their villages or cities, their towns, their counties, and their country. As tax codes at every level become more complex, it’s easier to lose track of the cross-impact of deductions and credits between governments who tax you.

One example in the national news is the federal tax deduction for State and Local income Taxes (SALT). This deduction on federal taxes was meant to avoid double taxation at the federal level for taxes already taken out from state and local governments. As word spread across the US about the proposal to remove this deduction, it suddenly exposed something that very few taxpayers across the US realized. States who have raised their state and local income taxes have actually contributed less than states who have done a better job of controlling their tax rates. In fact, New York is one of those states who have many taxpayers who have been able to pay less to federal, but will be heavily impacted by removal of this deduction.

New York’s taxpayers are rightfully concerned about increases in taxes, but their frustration should be directed to the appropriate source of this problem. It’s not the federal government we should be angry with in this particular case. The pain of our enormous tax burden is now more visible, due to removing the federal tax complexity that obscured just how high our New York state and local Income taxes have grown.

Government Impacts Business Winners and Stifles Growth

Besides individuals, businesses are burdened with regulations and taxes that rank New York as 39th out of 50 states in ease of starting a new business. The more often that government provides grants, loans, tax subsidies, and other funding, the more the individuals and businesses start to look to government as a source of funding, rather than pursuing projects and options that are self-funded or funded by private sources. In fact, government funding can become almost expected as people rely more on government to provide.

When New York creates new tax breaks for one type of business or adds tax levies on another, it is influencing which businesses will survive and which will not.

In 2014, New York State gave a sales tax break to wineries on samplings. This equivalent tax break was not given to breweries, distilleries, and cideries until November 2017. “This legislation provides a tremendous boost to an emerging industry driving both tourism and economic activity,” stated Kolb in a release. First, by giving only wineries this tax break initially, New York was boosting one type of product over other similar types of products. And more importantly, if removing sales tax gives industries a boost, wouldn’t removing sales taxes on more products and services give many more businesses a boost and help New York’s economy and jobs outlook?

The County of Monroe gives $1.7 million of its Hotel Occupancy Tax to the City of Rochester for the Blue Cross Arena and the convention center. The Rochester Rhinos had been self-funded until this year, when they were facing a stiff decline in ticket sales and sponsorships. They asked the City of Rochester for a portion of the $1.7 million Hotel Occupancy Tax. The City of Rochester declined and the Rochester Rhinos ultimately suspended the 2018 season. While we strongly prefer businesses be self-funding, as long as some facilities receive partial funding, others will not be able to compete to the same degree. Who decides which entertainment options should receive taxpayer money and which should not? If more people kept their tax money, they could decide for themselves which entertainment facilities they wanted to attend, with their ticket purchases and business sponsorships.

This impacts individuals, too. The State University of New York (SUNY) and (CUNY) system owns nearly $10 Billion of property in New York State, none of which is taxable. This means that the communities where those schools reside have large portions of land which are not taxable, containing large school communities that use fire, police, and code enforcement services provided by those local communities. All of the other property owners of those communities (typically individuals and small businesses) end up paying higher property taxes to cover the costs of those services to the state. Alfred, NY, home of Alfred State College, has the highest property taxes in Western NY. At nearly $17 per $1,000 of assessed value, the 2015 tax rate was the highest in the western portion of the state, according to the Empire Center for Public Policy. That works out to about $1,700 for the owner of a $100,000 home. Worst of all, these high taxes aren’t helping provide world class college educations. Two of New York’s state colleges are on the list of the 28 public universities with the worst graduation rates in 2016: #27 CUNY New York City College of Technology at 15% graduation rate, and #15 CUNY Medgar Evers College at 12% graduation rate. We give NY state-run colleges a property tax-free competitive advantage compared to private colleges, and effectively require the rest of the community to compensate for that tax break. In turn, that competitive advantage delivers cheaper but not better education to students. Streamlining the tax code would make it much easier for all taxpayers and policy-makers to evaluate the impacts – both obvious and unintended – of each type of tax.

“Free Money” Is Not Always Spent Wisely

Receiving government funding (AKA “taxpayer” funding) may feel free, but it’s not. Besides coming from the earnings of tax-paying residents and businesses, the feeling of receiving “free” money can lead to spending on things that might be delivered more efficiently. Some people in Geneva, NY felt that the city needed more parking. So Geneva spent money from taxpayers on a parking study. “The $40,000 study started about a year ago and was paid with $36,000 in state funds and $4,000 of city money”, said Sage Gerling, the city’s director of neighborhood initiatives. The conclusion of $40,000 of taxpayer money spent over a year studying parking in Geneva is that…there is no parking problem in Geneva. Nevertheless, some possible resolutions to the perception of parking issues include: “simplified regulations; way-finding improvements; residential and employee parking permits; new, innovative parking technologies; identifying new parking areas where there is a need; and parking provisions and standards that encourage downtown development.” An interesting point in this response is that the first possible solution mentions that simplified regulations could help, and several of the additional ideas would require more regulations. Did we need to spend $40,000 of taxpayer money to conclude there was no issue, after all? If we could reduce government-created regulations in the first place, we can reduce confusion and restrictions in the first place, and therefore reduce the need to use taxpayer money for frivolous studies.

Uncertainty of Future Tax Hikes Delays Private Investments

As we continue to let the role of government grow – in the services they provide and in the ways they dictate what residents and businesses can do through regulations, they need more people to administer the programs, which means spending increases….which means they need to find more income (taxes) to pay for that spending growth. In New York, 60% of property taxes are uses for schools and the rest for town and village/city services, police/fire, and more. One key variable in calculating annual property taxes is the assessment of the value of a property. This can be used as a way to grow taxes even while holding the property tax percentage firm. If you own property in New York, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced a property tax assessment increase. Property assessment is a frequent point of dispute for both businesses and individuals and can slow down or stop projects.

For example, in Canandaigua, NY, “Pinnacle North” private funding requires confirmation that the property taxes would be increased by a maximum fixed percentage over upcoming years. Phase 2 of the project cannot begin until the Canandaigua City Council, the County of Ontario, and the Canandaigua City School Board all approve this fixed maximum tax increase. On December 9, Canandaigua City voted 5-4 to accept the proposal. While a number of speakers were for the project, many speakers who own businesses were opposed, since they don’t get similar assurances that limit their tax increases over time.

In South Bristol, NY, there’s a wealthy resident who is asking for a particular service from the town for his $132,000 annual property tax on his 2900 sq ft property. $90,000 of that is school tax. Billionaire, Tom Golisano, founder of Paychex and a well-known contributor to the Greater Rochester area has asked the South Bristol town to rid his property of hundreds of nuisance geese to make his property more usable. He’s withholding the $90,000 school property tax until the town provides a service he is requesting given the amount of tax he pays. This tax is used in large part for the local school district. What kind of services should Tom Golisano expect for his total property tax assessment of $130,000?

From 2011-2016, school taxes have risen 27% and yet our public schools are failing our students. Clearly, throwing more money at education hasn’t improved the service, but those rapidly-rising taxes are creating a heavy burden on property owners in NY.

Overtaxed Residents Leave New York

Incidentally, it’s not only South Bristol, NY who has assessed one of Tom Golisano’s properties at a very high rate. The Towns of Mendon and Victor NY have also assessed very high taxes that Golisano fought to lower. In fact, Golisano points out the excessive property taxes in Western NY and overall high taxes are ultimately why Golisano chose lo leave NY to make Florida his primary home. Raising taxes on taxpayers encourages them to leave New York for states who are more responsible with spending and tax their residents at much lower rates.

When taxpayers who contribute large sums of money decide to leave New York, it negatively impacts our economy. Taxpayers have a choice – they can move to states with better taxes. And many do. As of the 2016 Census, New York is one of 8 states that saw a net population loss, despite high immigration rates.

Furthermore, numerous Upstate NY counties are shrinking more frequently than downstate counties in NY. According to the 2016 Census, since 2010, only 16 of 62 counties in New York have grown in population. And among the top 10 counties in growth, only two are from Upstate New York.

New York’s highest taxes in the US are not resulting in the best services compared to lower taxed states. In fact, they are encouraging government bad behavior that spirals into residents and businesses leaving.

High taxes cause government to use those taxes as a way to try to gain favor, but to alter normal competition giving certain industries and specific businesses deductions, waivers, and grants, leaving other businesses at a tax disadvantage. These deductions, waivers, and credits continue to make the tax code more complex, making the business landscape more like a landmine field. The complexity caused by government also creates a higher incidence of taxpayer money spent on frivolous projects, in a vicious cycle. The most effective type of investment – private investment – is delayed due to unpredictable future costs of tax hikes. When New Yorkers see lower taxes and simpler regulations in other states, it’s no wonder they consider leaving New York. Chances are, you know someone talking about leaving due to the high taxes in New York. Maybe you’re thinking about it. Before you leave, make this change in 2018 and be part of the reason that New York becomes #1 for all of the RIGHT reasons.  Get involved in Larry Sharpe’s campaign. Follow Larry Sharpe on Facebook or Twitter. Get to know Larry Sharpe. Volunteer. Donate. Be part of something exciting and believe in New York again.

The post Our High Taxes Aren’t Helping appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

Governor Cuomo’s approval ratings have taken a dive this past year because of the many issues involving the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA). With so many problems dogging this institution, it’s time for New Yorkers to demand a new approach to the transportation industry.

There is a problem when you have one person, or even a governing body, making decisions regarding something they know very little about. The lack of knowledge regarding transportation, engineering, and other related fields is not under criticism; politicians aren’t expected to know what makes every industry thrive. But their lack of knowledge should disqualify them from deciding what to improve within the MTA. This important role should fall to the engineers—the people who know the technology—who can assess which upgrades are needed. Unfortunately, because the MTA is funded by taxpayers, government makes the decisions, not the knowledgeable industry leaders.

The First Step Toward Innovation

Government stifles technological innovation, which happens especially when enforcing monopolies. Allowing the subway system to exist within a free enterprise would be ideal for improving rail technology and even customer satisfaction. The argument against a decentralized subway system is that it would mean that one corporation would become an abusive monopoly. But isn’t that what the MTA is now? It is a government-run monopoly that abuses the consumers all the time. Fires have started. Trains have swerved off the tracks. A train even broke down in the middle of the subway leaving hundreds of people stranded in the dark for 45 minutes. If the MTA was owned, funded, and operated by a non-public corporation, they would have incentive to make customers happy. This is something that doesn’t happen within government programs, and it is exactly what the MTA is lacking. Moving the MTA to the market would be an extensive step and not one that should necessarily happen in one swoop. However, there are steps we can take to get to that point.

Take Hong Kong, for example: they use a public-private partnership for their subway system, the Mass Transit Railway (MTR). Hong Kong and New York transit systems have roughly the same number of regular riders, yet there is an incredible difference between revenue, profit, fare prices, and consumer satisfaction. In 2013, the Hong Kong MTR spent about $2.18 billion in transit revenue (about a quarter of the MTA’s $8.4 billion), charged, on average, $1USD per ride (compared to MTA’s $2.75), yet has a 99.9% on-time rating for train schedules (MTA is at about 72%). Not only that, but they make a profit: more than $1 billion per year! Compare that to the MTA’s $38 billion debt that has been lingering for 30+ years. Why is there such a stark difference between the two (including the remarkable differences in cleanliness and aesthetics)? A large part of it is because there are shareholders involved who have a profit incentive to do well by consumers or risk losing a lot of money.

Options Lead to Innovation

By loosening the bureaucratic stronghold on the MTA, there would be less waste and we would start to experience real improvements and eventually see progress with cosmetic upgrades (but the internal problems would need to be dealt with first and foremost). The subway system currently uses technology decades, and in some cases over a century, old and is in desperate need of an overhaul. Of course, another issue is that rail infrastructure itself is becoming obsolete due to technological advances of electric driverless cars and buses. Instead of spending an obscene amount of money fixing antiquated railways, companies could eventually use the already built subway tunnels for electric busses. This is just one of many possibilities.

What makes a business perform well? Incentives and choices. The MTA has neither of those. They don’t have any profit incentive because most of the funding comes from taxpayer money and government subsidies. And of course, there is no competing subway system. Because of this, it really doesn’t matter how poor of a job it does; people still need to use it. Companies like Uber and Lyft help commuters to a certain extent, but traffic congestion is its own issue and isn’t necessarily an option for those who need reliable transportation. But with Uber and Lyft, we can see how opening the market to allow more companies to participate gives consumers a lot more options and at lower prices. If the MTA was subjected to the market, because of the enormous debt it currently has, it would have filed for bankruptcy years ago and been forced to fix the issues instead of just throwing more taxpayer money at the problem. As Larry Sharpe has said, “The MTA needs more competition. It’s as simple as that.”

An example of choices within the transportation market is with busses. Chariot, a Ford-based shuttle service, opened in New York recently to provide competition to the bus system. You simply set up the starting and ending addresses as well as an ETA, and a shuttle bus picks you up with a guaranteed seat. This leaves more room on city buses and forces the city busses to lower fares to attract consumers. Who knows what other possibilities there are when we let the professionals handle the industry, not the bureaucrats.

The bureaucratic answer is always more subsidies. But with subsidies, wasteful spending is pretty much guaranteed. At what point do we say: “Throwing money at the problem isn’t helping; let’s try something else!” We could try a private-public partnership at first. Or we could simply have more subway options sharing a rail. There are many possibilities if we let industry leaders innovate.  Larry Sharpe is willing to try something new. Are you?

Please donate or volunteer here. Follow Larry on Facebook and Twitter for more information.

The post Reinventing the MTA: Improvement through Innovation appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

Bloated New York government needs money. They use our mobile phone bills as a quiet way to support their own waste and corruption, while they hit us with the third-highest taxes in the U.S.—50% higher than average. We get little in return.

In New York, sales tax on most purchases of is 8.875%. But for some reason, tax on mobile phone service is almost 3 times that—almost 25%. Why?

I can find no good answer to that question.

High tax rates are usually reserved for “sins:” cigarettes, big boats, alcohol, etc.

Whether or not you agree with the premise that “sins” should be heavily taxed, do mobile phones belong in this group?

These days owning a mobile phone is a necessity for running one’s life. In many states, necessities are tax exempt to avoid the regressive punishment against the poor—but not mobile phone service. Phones are hit many times harder than other products. Quietly, enormous telecom taxes have been levied on all of us, disproportionally hitting those most dependent on the technology.

It appears they do it because they can, and because they need money—lots of our money.

“Wireless taxes have long been a fairly frictionless way for states and cities to get revenue,” says Jot Carpenter, Vice President of government affairs at telecom industry association CTIA. He means politically “frictionless”—you and I won’t complain or hold politicians accountable at the ballot box for taking so much of our money for no apparent reason.

It’s as Willie Sutton explained about why he robbed banks: “That’s where the money is.”

When you think like a bureaucrat, it makes perfect sense. And they don’t care who it hurts.

As With Most Tax Issues, New York is Among the Worst

New Yorkers have been hit HARD. The federal tax rate on mobile phone service is 6.3% (that applies to all states). State and local governments then layer on more—much more, an average of 12.2% more. Out of 50 states, New York adds the nation’s third-highest state and local taxes: 18.3%, which is 50% more than the average state. That brings the total cell phone tax rate in New York to 24.6%.

And while telecom companies themselves have competed in a cutthroat industry to reduce their monthly service charges by 17% over the past 10 years, those savings have been more than lost, as cell service tax rates have increased by 22% over that period.

So, as we complain about our cell phone bills going up, many of us blaming the carriers, we need to see that it’s really the politicians doing it to us. Ironically, as carriers improve service and technology and lower costs to us, bloated “public servants” view that as a bad thing, because it takes money out of their hands. And they need our money—it’s already been spent. So, they have to increase the tax rate to make up for the savings that the phone carriers are trying to give us, effectively erasing any savings by putting more of our money in the hands of bloated government.

Infrastructure and Services Don’t Justify the High Tax Rate

You may ask whether New York State provides a lot of infrastructure to assist the public or the telecom industry, which might make the taxes seem more reasonable. But this is not really the case.

State and local politicians will tout things like 911 emergency services, 411 information services, “right-of-way” infrastructure, and franchise agreements for services. But don’t fall for their rhetoric: these are inexpensive services to provide as compared to the massive tax revenue they take from all of us. The FCC found that a sizable portion of 911, 411, and other infrastructure taxes were diverted to other, unrelated purposes, such as coping with localities’ pension crises. Many other taxes and fees don’t even pretend to be related to mobile service.

You must ask yourself: why does New York need so much more cell service tax than other states?

Government officials simply need the tax money to support their waste and corruption. And since New York is so much more wasteful and corrupt than other states, high cell service tax is just another example of where New Yorkers get hit harder.

Just One More Reason Businesses Won’t Invest in New York

In addition to hitting the poor the hardest, higher tax rates discourage investment. Ask yourself: if you were considering bringing your business to New York, with it’s incredibly high income and property taxes, how might incredibly high telecom taxes impact your choice?

The International Chamber of Commerce concluded that such discriminatory taxes not only make doing business more expensive, they also create complexities which make it harder for new telecom companies to offer services, which limits consumer choices. New York is among the worst in all of these areas.

Put Them on a Diet to Make Us All Healthier

To be competitive and attract business and new jobs, New York doesn’t need to dump cash and goodies on companies and college students. Governor Cuomo has tried and it doesn’t work—only wastes. We need our government to get out of the way—stop with the oppressive taxes, stop with undue complexities, stop the need for permission to start a business or get a good job. Just stop!

In the case of telecom taxes, we need to immediately stop their growth. We should be telling Andrew Cuomo and the rest of Albany to roll back such taxes and put a cap on local taxes. We should permit just enough tax to cover essential 911 services and infrastructure, but no more. We can check ourselves against other states to see how we’re doing. We can scale back the limit over a number of years to manage the hit to local governments who have, sadly, become dependent on such tax revenues.

We must put New York government on a financial diet, starting with our cell phone taxes.

The post New York Cell Phone Taxes: “High” is an Understatement appeared first on Larry Sharpe, Libertarian.

In your statement on Saturday, you criticized the Republican Tax and Jobs plan for double taxing the citizens of New York by limiting or eliminating the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, saying that New Yorkers are paying too much in taxes. I agree! New Yorkers are paying too much in taxes, it doesn’t have to be this way. Instead, let’s focus right here at home and put the federal government on a low-sodium diet by reducing the SALT in New York State!

New York has the highest state and local tax burden in the country, and our spending is out of control. Let’s talk about the ways you are burdening the people of New York.

Income tax in the state of NY is 8.82%, on top of a more than 3% personal income tax for anyone who earns their money in New York City. More than 600,000 people come INTO the city to work every day, which means they are paying New York City income taxes in addition to state income taxes, and their own local taxes mandated by wherever they commute from. We are penalizing more than half a million commuters for working in the city.

Then our state imposes a 4% sales tax on personal, tangible property such as furniture, art, and even light fixtures, as well as services for things like interior design or computer processing. Add to that the local municipal sales taxes, particularly in New York City where beautician services, gyms, and even hair braiding are hit with an additional sales tax simply for doing business in the city (Not to mention arbitrary licensing fees). The list of things that are subject to these taxes is as long as the Hudson! The state of New York is actively dictating and taxing the minutiae of people’s daily lives and personal interactions.

Property taxes are among the highest in the nation and the 2% tax cap is a smoke screen of fake compassion. A municipality can simply vote to surpass the tax cap, while a school district must fall within the parameters of a convoluted, two-page formula that is nearly impossible to understand, let alone qualify for, those tax rates can, and often do come closer to 3% and as high as 5%, depending on the capital projects and proposed budgets of our local schools.

School taxes represent about 60% of our property tax bills, again, the highest in the country. We are spending nearly $20,000 per student, per year, 85% higher than the national average, yet we are only ranked #19 in the country for education? We aren’t seeing the benefits of these taxes in our school systems. Where are all of our tax dollars going, governor?

The cost of living in the state of New York is so outrageous that we are seeing the highest numbers of emigration out of all 50 states. Citizens are leaving our state in droves because they cannot afford the tax burden. The average American income is $55,775 per year, while the average income for citizens of New York is $60,850. That is a difference of 9.1%. However, the average cost of living in New York is between 28% and 39% higher than the national average. How can you expect the people of New York to survive, let alone thrive, under these economic conditions?

The national average for the state and local tax burden is 9.9%, while New York sees a state and local tax burden of 12.7%. I repeat, the highest tax burden in the country! And what do we have to show for it? We do not have the best schools, we do not have the best health care, we do not have the best anything, but for all that money, we should.

Governor, your words imply that you empathize with your constituents, but your lack of action to create any form of relief for us, the citizens of New York, prove that you will change nothing, blame the republicans, and use that as a way to prove that you need to be the President in order to fix this broken system. You will use this crisis as an opportunity to build your platform for 2020, taking care of yourself rather than the people of New York, the ones you’re leaving behind.

The only way New Yorkers can feel relief from these tax burdens is by cutting the outrageous spending in the state that has produced zero positive outcomes. By cutting spending, the state and local tax burden will naturally be reduced, because we won’t have the need to bleed ourselves dry in order to survive all of the spending you’ve created.

As a lifelong New Yorker and business owner of 13 years, I know first-hand the strain that these taxes put on individuals and small businesses. This is why I am running for governor in 2018. To stop the spending. To cut state and local taxes. You have forgotten the people of New York, with your eye on the White House. I have not. To fight this “double taxation,” as you called it, we must first look at ourselves.

End the state income tax. Let the people of New York invest their earnings in their communities, innovate, and build new business. As it stands right now, we are one giant SALT block for the federal government. So let’s put them on a Low-Sodium Diet and keep our dollars in our own pockets.

To a Better Future,

Larry Sharpe

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