ALBANY – Senator Cathy Young is joining her Republican colleagues in the State Senate in calling for the Governor to remove the proposed extension of the utility tax surcharge from his Executive State Budget.
The “18-a” surcharge, which has increased utility bills for every ratepayer in the state, is scheduled to expire on March 31, 2014. But the Governor is proposing extending the charge for five more years, which Senate Republicans and business leaders say would cost businesses and consumers a total of almost $3 billion.
On Tuesday, Senate Republicans were joined at a Capitol news conference by representatives of the Business Council of New York State, the National Federation of Independent Businesses, the Manufacturers Association of Central New York, the New York Farm Bureau and AARP. Other businesses groups also expressed their support for the Senate’s call to end the utility tax surcharge, as scheduled.
Senator Young said the surcharge is just another example of the burdensome costs that have impeded New York’s recovery from the recession and have stunted
business growth. She added that the State needs to be lowering taxes and surcharges on our ratepayers, not extending them.
According to figures from National Grid, the impact of the energy tax extension on a typical large business is estimated at $30,000 per year. The added cost on a typical small business would be about $540 per year and average household utility bills would increase by $55 per year.
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