State checks are fine, low taxes better

The most cheerful way to view the dizzying array of tax rebates New York governors have provided residents over the past decade is by imagining them as the proverbial stashing of cash in a cookie jar. 

Taxpayers are involuntarily tucking away a little extra cash via tax rates that are among the highest in the nation. Then, most years, they get a rebate check or a credit on their state tax returns. The amount of each break — to the casual, overtaxed observer — appears to be calculated by considering STAR rebate eligibility, income, family size, hat size, the formula for converting Fahrenheit temperatures to Celsius, and annual rainfall amounts in each school district.

As a bonus, they often also receive a message from the sitting governor, which, however worded, should be read as: “Vote for me, I send cash!”

The latest such checks being mailed out this month are much larger than usual and will be, admittedly, met with joy by New Yorkers struggling with higher prices wherever they turn. This year, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s rebates will net 2.2 million households earning less than $250,000 an average of about $900 each.

And that’s in addition to a credit claimed on state tax returns for households earning under $250,000 that pay more than a certain percentage of their income in property taxes. Former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s contrivance — in effect last year, this year and next — averages $340.

That came on the heels of Cuomo’s rebates for households earning under $275,000 — paid when their school districts stayed within the property-tax cap (2017), when either their school districts or municipalities stayed within the cap (2018), and when only their municipalities stayed within the cap (2019). 

And that came on the heels of the bonuses of 2014, 2015 and 2016: Cuomo sent $350 checks to residents with children under 17 who had household incomes between $40,000 and $300,000 in 2014, then made it a tax credit in 2015 and 2016.

It’s not just Democrats. Checks meant to soften local property taxes were also mailed under former Gov. George Pataki, with messages that touted his involvement. 

Sending residents money doesn’t come close to topping our list of Albany gripes, but the scenario is frustrating. It implies both that we’re regularly overtaxed so that politicians can return the overage in exchange for voter gratitude, and that the state has no idea how to use that money to improve New York.

Residents will take the money, mostly gladly. But they’d be better served by a paving program that kept state roads drivable or by more aid being sent to keep local roads shipshape — or by lower tax rates — than by rebates that can’t be calculated without an abacus and a magic 8-ball.