City Council's TransitChek mandate a burden for small businesses

From Crains:

The New York City Council passed a bill Tuesday afternoon to require businesses with 20 or more full-time employees to provide access to a transit tax benefit. The heretofore optional program enables employees to pay for monthly train and bus fares with pretax earnings, potentially saving them hundreds of dollars on annual payroll and income taxes.

Companies, which can also save on payroll taxes but must bear the cost of administering the program, will face fines starting in 2016 unless they can prove hardship.

The transit benefits, typically provided via TransitChek in New York City, are currently used by roughly 1 million New Yorkers. According to its proponents, the new legislation, which now awaits Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature, will provide 450,000 more New Yorkers with access, saving them an average of $443 a year and injecting $50 million into the city economy.

While the savings on pretax income are real for employees, the argument that small businesses will save money as well is less certain. A report by transportation group Riders Alliance estimated that the legislation would save businesses $103 a year in taxes for every employee at the median wage level. But that doesn't take into account that administration of the program must be provided by the businesses, many of which may have to outsource the work.

The legislation creates additional costs in the form of fines for those that fail to abide by the bill. The legislation does allow the city's Department of Consumer Affairs to exempt businesses that demonstrate that compliance will be a financial hardship.

For critics of the bill, the idea of fining companies for failure to provide a costly program that was created by Congress as an option for businesses is yet another example of de Blasio-era legislation that burdens businesses.

The tax man cometh

From the NY Post:

New York’s a tax hell — according to Gov. Cuomo’s own budget proposal.

The state and localities took $14.71 of every $100 New Yorkers earned in 2010 — second most in the nation after Alaska and 42 percent above the $10.38 national average, according to Cuomo’s budget division and census data.

Budgeteers suggest taxes paid by high-earning out-of-state commuters and tourists inflate New York’s numbers.

And Cuomo aides noted that since he took office in 2011, he limited property-tax growth to 2 percent a year, cut middle-class income-tax rates and approved a state takeover of future local Medicaid cost increases.

But critics faulted him for increasing income-tax rates for high earners, extending some taxes and fees and failing to provide enough relief to localities from unfunded state mandates.

Unfunded mandates killing school districts

From the NY Times:

Facing the threat of layoffs and program cuts, financially ailing districts across New York State are re-examining expenditures and increasingly challenging those mandated by state laws and regulations they find burdensome, costly or unnecessary.

By their count, these officials say, they are forced to abide by more than 250 unfunded state mandates a year, many of which can no longer be sustained.

School officials have been complaining about these imposed costs for years, but their protests are now resonating with parents and voters seeking ways to cut school spending. In response, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo convened a statewide mandate-relief committee, and the Board of Regents has identified laws it considers outdated.

But the clamor for mandate relief has been heightened by the March 31 adoption of a $132.5 billion state budget, one of the leanest in years. The budget reduces education aid by nearly $1.3 billion.

As a result, superintendents and school board members who once focused on big-ticket expenses like pensions and health care are now analyzing smaller mandates, like a 2007 law requiring districts to give employees paid leave for breast cancer and prostate screenings. The mandate cost one district, Croton-Harmon in Westchester County, $3,500 for substitutes for 20 teachers and staff members, and the cost is expected to rise as more staff members learn about the law, district officials say.

Just think how much NYC paid for this stupidity. Paid leave for cancer screenings? Can't you get screened on your days off? During summer break? Why is this the school district's responsibility?