Albany, NY – The office of Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha conducted a snap survey on Thursday morning on the topic of the county’s Fair Taxes proposal. 466 respondents had responded as of Monday morning, with 82% saying they prefer the enactment of this proposal over service cuts or increase in property taxes. 

“The county’s Fair Taxes proposal is about one thing and one thing only: rejecting Trump’s cuts and keeping essential services funded without having to raise property taxes,” said Assemblymember Shrestha, “Not all residents have realized that Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill enacted not only severe cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, but also shifted significant administrative costs to counties while giving tax cuts that disproportionately benefit high earners everywhere. That means the 2.4% of the county households that would be affected by this surcharge would generally still see a net saving or zero impact on their income taxes, but their 0.1-2% income tax rate increase contribution would prevent those who are making less from having to pay a higher property tax.”

Please see below the results of our snap survey, to which 466 residents have responded:

• 82.40% said they prefer the proposed surcharge over service cuts or property tax increases, 13.95% said they prefer service cuts, and 3.65% said they prefer property tax increases
• Of the 466 respondents, 40 self-identified as a household that would be affected by the surcharge. Of those 40, a majority of 52.5% said they prefer to pay the surcharge, 27.5% said they prefer service cuts, and 20% said they prefer property tax increases.
• We also asked flat out if respondents support the Fair Taxes proposal in general, without having to choose between service cuts and property tax increases:
  • 74.89% said they support it, 9.87% they needed more information, and 15.24% said they oppose it
  • Of the 40 who said they would be impacted by the surcharge, 45% said they support it, 40% said they oppose it, and 15% said they were unsure

TIMELINE

“The earliest the county can enact this surcharge is April or May next year,” said Shrestha, “First, the county has to pass a home rule request resolution seeking the state’s authorization, then sometime next year,state legislators have to pass the state bill that grants them the authorization and get it signed by the Governor, and only after that can the county vote to actually pass a local law to enact the surcharge.” 

GROSS INCOME VS. TAXABLE INCOME

“The threshold the county is proposing, $400k for joint filers and $200k for single filers, is for taxable income, and not gross income. That means, for a single filer to be impacted, the gross income would have to be closer to $230k. Additionally, the surcharge is imposed on taxable income above the threshold, and not the entire amount.”

COUNTY VS. STATE

“This proposal is a home rule request proposal, which means it’s a county-initiated request the state needs to authorize,” said Shrestha, “If Governor Hochul had agreed to tax the rich and significantly increased aid to counties in this year’s budget, that would’ve been a better solution, but that’s not what happened, and that’s one of the reasons I voted no on the Revenue budget bill. If the county wants to enact this surcharge to take care of its constituents, as a state legislator I feel it’s my job to support that decision.”

“We are in the bracket for a surcharge by a little,” said Jessica B. of the Town of Rochester, “And will gladly do our share. Governor Hochul should've agreed to implement a tax the rich policy statewide so that we could've captured revenues from the wealth that is concentrated in the city, but she didn't do that, and now the county is left to fend for itself.”

”I would pay under this proposal and I still am a supporter,” said another county respondent in support of the proposal, “It's right that we help each other and this is a way for those who have more to help those who need more.”

The survey is still open and can be taken at: https://actionnetwork.org/surveys/ulster-county-fair-taxes/