The Cost of 10,521 Governments to Taxpayers

What does the duplication and overlapping taxing entities mean to taxpayers? New York State has the highest local property burden in the country. $73.00 per every $1,000 of personal income is paid by individuals for local taxes. That is $30.00 over the national average!

For over 75 years, academics, commissions, government officials, good government groups and informed citizens have recognized the inherent dysfunction in New York’s local government system. In 1935, for example, the New York State Commission for the Revision of the Tax Laws, commonly referred to as the Mastick Commission, noted that there were “too many units of [local] government,” resulting in the “duplication of functions, overlapping areas, overlapping authority and overlapping debt.”

The Mastick Commission criticized the State’s local government system as violative of the “‘first principles’” of political science “taught in our high schools, colleges and universities”, and “so contrary to elementary principles of human organization that it is difficult if not impossible for the administration of public affairs to be carried on with efficiency.” Sixty years later, a study prepared by the 1995 Temporary State Commission on Constitutional Revision revealed that the problem had only grown in dimension:

"New York’s forms of general purpose government - counties, cities, towns, and villages - were devised in the eighteenth century and developed in the nineteenth. But they have not been modified in the twentieth century, despite enormous changes in population size and diversity, economic activity, transportation systems, settlement patterns and communications technology. Instead, the state has added frequently but streamlined rarely. Localities kept their forms, but their functions converged. Where necessary, single-function, special districts and authorities were created to augment existing entities, increasing layering and complexity. The result is not a system, but a maze of overlapping and often competing jurisdictions."

An Economic Crisis

Adding additional pressure to taxpayers is the fact that we are facing one of the worst fiscal crises in recent times. New York is facing record budget deficits and state revenues from major sources, such as Wall Street, are significantly down.

The historic response to economic downturns has been to raise taxes and cut services. However, we must change this two-step paradigm because it raises the burden on families and slows economic growth. Because of the crisis we have an opportunity to do more. We can make fundamental change by reforming our antiquated structure of government.

Change is needed and that is what Attorney General Cuomo's Empowerment Law will bring.