Taxes are always a hot button issue, and at UUP’s 2009 Winter Delegate Assembly, our delegates unanimously supported a progressive tax increase as the fairest way to share the pain of the current economic downturn. I was asked to take up the issue on behalf of the union.

I was happy to go around the state to make the case for a progressive tax system and the increased tax revenues it would yield to ensure the state’s stability. Of course, this is only half the battle. Now that the Fair Tax Act has been passed, we need to make sure we get our fair share. We must make sure the additional state revenues it will raise will help protect our students’ access to the high-quality public higher education that SUNY provides.

According to most polls, more than 65 percent of people making $250,000 or more supported raising their own taxes through a progressive income tax. Our state affiliate NYSUT, along with other state unions and even groups of economists, pushed for fair tax legislation. Therefore, it is no surprise that a progressive tax increase was part of the solution to the state’s current economic crisis.

So why am I writing a column about our progressive tax agenda? It is not to tout a victory or even to thank those who worked so hard to see the legislation passed, although those are laudatory goals. By passing the Fair Tax Act, it is estimated that $4 billion will be raised this year in additional state revenue and even more next year. But at the end of the third year, the fair tax program is set to sunset. That’s exactly the same time when the federal stimulus funding runs out.  New York state will be back in financial trouble once again.

We need to start now to put stability back into our tax system and, in turn, help to ensure SUNY’s future stability. To do that, we need to make the fair tax system permanent. Over the last 30 years, the state has repeatedly continued a negative cycle by lowering tax rates and making our system less progressive, only to find time after time that rates must be raised if minimum levels of services are to be provided. Then, during each of these cycles as the state runs out of funds, SUNY tuition is raised to fill holes in the general fund portion of the state budget. Businesses make

future plans based on these lower, unsustainable rates, only to find that rates must go up and they are not prepared for the new fiscal environment.  Counties and homeowners expect a certain level of services from the state and set property tax rates to pay for their share of these programs, only to find state funds lacking and their sole recourse is to raise the regressive property tax.

Like homeowners and businesses, parents and students will be better off with a rational tax system with permanent progressive tax rates which stops these “boom and bust” cycles.  Over time, everyone will be better off with these higher tax rates because we can make better predictions about government services and costs which will lead to better decisions and higher economic growth. 

Above are the talking points we used to help persuade the Legislature to pass the Fair Tax Act. We need to take them up again and ask our legislators to make the progressive rates permanent before we find ourselves back in financial crisis with the cycle staring again. Our students and campuses and all New Yorkers deserve better.

— UUP Vice President for Academics Fred Floss