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Nod to tax shift to fund schools

Poll finds that more LI residents would rather fund schools with income tax than property taxes

BY MICHAEL ROTHFELD | Newsday Staff Writer

June 9, 2006

As frustration with high property taxes mounts on Long Island, more residents than not would prefer funding schools with a local income tax instead, a Newsday/NY1 poll has found.

Long Islanders favored the idea 41 percent to 33 percent - making the region the most supportive in the state.

"The property tax basically hits people who don't have kids any longer," said Stephen Lahey, 59, a co-op owner from Rocky Point who has no children himself but added that he believes in education. "There are older folks, and the burden on them is very heavy."

Across New York, 957 suburban and upstate voters polled June 1-5 by Blum & Weprin Associates were split, with 39 percent each in favor and opposed and roughly 22 percent unsure. New York City voters were not surveyed because the city has an income tax already and a different school funding system.

Upstate suburban and rural voters favored a local income tax, 40 percent to 36 percent, while upstate urban voters opposed it, 50 percent to 32 percent. Political party was not a factor, and men were more supportive of the change than women.

"Our community is poor," said Vera Giasi, 70, who runs a bed-and-breakfast in Rock Stream, in rural central New York, and opposes an income tax. "If you take that and put it on the wage earners, that might be very difficult for a lot of the poorer people."

On Long Island, it is not surprising that people are more receptive to an income tax as their property taxes soar, said Mitchell Pally, a vice president at the Long Island Association, a business group.

"Some people believe that just shifting from one tax to another tax will be an easy solution to the problem," he said.

Pally said the implications are not clear, and his group is studying the issue. It is also under review by a Suffolk County legislative commission. Income tax supporters say it is more fair than property taxes, because homeowners can't necessarily afford to pay.

Nassau Assessor Harvey Levinson supports a countywide system combining property and income taxes. "It's a really politically difficult issue for most elected officials to deal with," he said. "They're simply dead wrong."

In the governor's race, Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the front-runner, endorsed gradually moving to a local income tax before business leaders in East Meadow on Jan. 26, calling the property tax "a fundamentally bad tax."

"What we have to do over time is shift from a property tax foundation to an income tax foundation," Spitzer said. "Because then the tax at least is imposed upon the revenue people are getting. Most people agree it is more equitable."

Nassau County Executive Thomas Suozzi, also a Democrat, says he would cut state spending and increase education aid to reduce property taxes, but he does not support "new or alternative taxes." Republican John Faso opposes an income tax, a spokeswoman said, because it would "simply be shifting burdens."

Staff writer James T. Madore contributed to this story.