Schumer: Taxes Too High, But Tax Cuts Costly
Senator Schumer said yesterday that New York's state and local taxes are too high "in the abstract," but that the cost of cutting taxes - and the services they provide - is also too high.
The comments came during a breakfast for business leaders, at which the Democrat also pleaded for an end to the "bureaucratic inertia" that he said is threatening the successful redevelopment of Lower Manhattan, including the World Trade Center's Freedom Tower and the new headquarters of Goldman Sachs.
At the breakfast, sponsored by Crain's New York, the Democratic senator was asked by The New York Sun whether New York's high state and local taxes were a barrier to attracting businesses.
"In the abstract, yes," he responded.
"But tax cuts come at a cost in services," he said, "and that's something voters don't want."
He continued: "Maybe the editors of the Sun have a list of services and programs that could be cut, but I don't know of many."
Earlier, in a speech, Mr. Schumer argued that the bipartisan momentum that helped the city secure billions of redevelopment dollars and clear ground zero ahead of schedule has been lost to a spirit of what he termed "criticism uber alles."
Specifically, he chided the city's political establishment and press for failing to express outrage at Goldman Sachs's decision to suspend plans for a $2 billion, 40-story headquarters at the northwest corner of the former site of the World Trade Center. Mr. Schumer said $350 million in construction costs and hundreds of jobs were at stake. The company attributed its decision to concerns that a proposed four-lane tunnel would send traffic too close to the building's entrance.
The senator said getting the project back on track should be the first priority of Mayor Bloomberg and his staff, though he expressed gratitude that plans for the $700 million tunnel - which he termed the biggest waste of money since the Tweed Courthouse - would probably be canceled.
"The way this project got stalled is an example of the kind of thinking that gets us into trouble, that helped Washington, D.C., move ahead of Lower Manhattan in terms of commercial office space," New York's senior senator said.
Returning repeatedly to the theme that "criticism predominates over construction," Mr. Schumer reeled off a list of projects that he said are being tied up by bureaucratic red tape and political fighting: the Second Avenue subway, the Moynihan Station rail hub, the no. 7 subway extension, and ground zero.
Moreover, the senator said that if city officials think "the money we've received for these projects is just going to sit there for five more years, they're wrong."
"In Washington," he said, "the rule is: Use it or lose it."
Mr. Schumer said he would not hold any group responsible for the obstruction.
Pressed to give his opinion of what was termed the "800-pound elephant in the room," Mr. Bloomberg's support for the West Side stadium, the senator said he was "religiously agnostic" on the issue. Turning more serious, he said his primary concern was to make sure that there was West Side development and that the no. 7 subway line was extended. Beyond that, Mr. Schumer said he didn't want to risk alienating either the City Council, led by stadium opponent Gifford Miller, or the mayor, its leading proponent.
Central to revitalizing Lower Manhattan, in Mr. Schumer's view, is the aggressive use of state and city tax breaks to keep businesses here or lure new ones. He said these were important in keeping Verizon in Lower Manhattan and could be very effective in persuading a European pharmaceuticals company to open a research-and-development facility in Governors Island.
