May 9, 2008
Population Losses and Gains will have Rippling Effect in New York
According to the federal government’s recently released population estimates, New York State is growing at a dismal 1.7 percent compared to a national 7.2 percent rate of growth for the years between 2000 and 2007.
New York, which is the third largest state behind California and Texas, is losing ground to Florida, which grew at 14.2 percent for same period and is estimated to have pulled within 1 million people of New York's overall population, estimated to be at 19,297,729 as of July 1, 2007.
Thirty eight of our counties lost population or grew at less than the state average of 1.7 percent, according to the latest estimates, which are used to establish federal funding, draw congressional districts and to attract private investments in the state.
Wednesday, more than 100 county officials from across the state participated in a seminar that focused on how counties will be impacted by the estimates and what they can do to challenge the estimates if officials believe they are inaccurate.
For more information on the seminar, visit www.nysac.org. (Jeff Osinski)
Counties Oppose Health Insurance Moratorium Bill Moving Through Legislature
A measure moving through the State Legislature this week (S6457A/ A9393a) designed to establish a task force on retiree health insurance is meeting stiff opposition from counties and other local governments in New York.
The bill will create a 12 member taskforce on retiree health insurance and will prohibit counties and all municipal employers from altering the health insurance benefits they provide employees and retirees. The task force called for in the bill excludes representation from local governments, the entities that which will be directly impacted by the deliberations of the group.
“This legislation is an unfunded mandate and it presents itself as a collective bargaining quagmire as it ties the hands of public employers,” said NYSAC Executive Director Stephen J. Acquario. “Furthermore it continues the disconnect between the decisions made in Albany and the impact they have on local governments and taxpayers across the state.”
Please contact your local representatives to encourage them to vote against the bill.
Click here for a copy of NYSAC’s Memo in Opposition to the measure. (Jeff Osinski)
NYC Cigarette Tax Court Decision May Strengthen Tax Collection Efforts
In a major decision that allows New York City to continue its suit against cigarette wholesalers to proceed, Judge Carol Bagley Amon of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York ruled this month that cigarette wholesalers who flood the market with untaxed cigarettes can be held liable under the federal Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act (CCTA), as well as under state law.
This collection of sales and excise taxes on tribal lands to non-Native Americans is a major priority of NYSAC and this lawsuit is an important step in resolving the tax evasion issue.
The City’s suit alleges that the practice of the defendant cigarette wholesalers selling enormous quantities of untaxed cigarettes to Native American smoke shops located on reservations throughout New York State results in the “bootlegging” of large quantities of cigarettes into the City. Although Native Americans are permitted in appropriate circumstances to purchase cigarettes free of state and local taxes, the City alleges that the wholesalers supply reservation smoke shops with amounts of cigarettes that are vastly in excess of Native American consumption, with the excess supply bootlegged to City residents by various means, including sales over the Internet and bulk shipments from reservation sellers to City stores.
New York State has had a long history in implementing a cigarette taxation system applicable to Native American sellers. The U.S. Supreme Court has held on several occasions, including in a case involving one of the defendants in the City suit, that sales by Native Americans to non-members of the seller’s tribe are fully taxable by a state or locality.
And while New York State Law (Chapter 62 of 2003) requires the collection sales and excise taxes on tribal and Indian sales of tobacco, the state has been unable to develop a method of regulating reservation sales. State inaction formed the central defense of the wholesalers in this suit, who claimed that because the State did not require them to collect taxes on sales to reservations, there effectively was no tax for which they could be held liable under the Federal statute. Judge Amon rejected this defense, stating that “the failure of the executive branch to enforce the law is not the same as saying that the legislative branch has repealed it.”
The judge's ruling is available at this link. (Ken Crannell)
Save the date for the NYSAC Fall Seminar
The NYSAC Fall Seminar will be held September 24-26, 2008 in Niagara Falls, Niagara County.
Upcoming Next Week
The Senate and Assembly are scheduled to be in session on Monday through Wednesday.
Tuesday, May 13 at noon in Albany at the Legislative Correspondence Association Press Room: IDA reform – a New York Initiative for Development Accountability
Thursday and Friday, May 15th and 16th: A Statewide Taylor Law Conference hosted by the New York State Public Employee Relations Board. Contact perbinfo@perb.state.ny.us for more details.
