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GOP pushes middle class tax breaks

New York Senate Republicans are pushing for middle class tax breaks in the new state budget, including a return to the New York State School Tax Relief Program property tax rebate checks curtailed in 2009.
 

Senate GOP Leader Dean Skelos wants to increase the tax break for dependents as well as the child tax credit, and return to the rebate checks for home owners who are part of the School Tax Relief Program, or STAR, property tax program. He says the average family of four could end up with $1000 more each year.

“It always seems that middle income family is the family that is getting choked in this state,” Skelos said.

Senate Republicans say the money could come from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s $2.5 billion pool of discretionary funds. The governor has said he’s set that money aside for economic development and education programs.
 
The leader of the Independent Democratic Conference, Sen. Jeff Klein, who co-leads the Senate in a coalition government with the Republicans, says he supports a return of the STAR rebate checks, and middle class tax breaks.

“Any way that we could put more money back into the pockets of New Yorkers is something that I support,” Klein said.

But Klein says the “devil is in the details” on how the tax cuts would be financed.
 

Karen DeWitt is Capitol Bureau Chief for New York State Public Radio, a network of 10 public radio stations in New York State. She has covered state government and politics for the network since 1990.