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ALBANY — State Senate Republicans yesterday proposed a 20 percent, election-year tax cut for small businesses.
The cuts, along with other measures aimed at helping businesses such as tax credits of as much as $10,000 for each new job created, will be part of a Senate budget proposal Republicans plan to unveil next week.
The GOP claims the changes, supported by business groups, would save small businesses across the state a total of $185 million a year.
Spokesman Scott Reif said the budget plan will include spending cuts to help pay for the tax cuts, but he would not elaborate.
“The Senate Republican ‘New Jobs New York’ plan will revitalize our economy and create new jobs,” declared state Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau), who along with all legislators is up for re-election in November.
The GOP plan would cut the corporate tax rate for small businesses from 6.85 percent to 5.5 percent. It would also provide a 10 percent tax credit to small-business owners who have business income below $250,000 and are now assessed under the personal income tax.
Lawmakers are hoping to negotiate a new state budget with Gov. Cuomo before the end of the month, with the new state fiscal year beginning April 1. Cuomo proposed a $132 billion, no-new-taxes budget in January that boosts education and health-care spending by 4 percent and state spending overall by 2 percent.
Cuomo’s office will review the Senate proposals, and the Assembly is waiting for the full Senate plan, spokesmen said.
Other elements of the Senate Republican plan include:
* Imposing a 2 percent state spending cap — after enacting a 2 percent local property-tax cap last year.
* Placing a moratorium on new taxes and fees.
* Requiring a two-thirds vote of lawmakers to increase state taxes.
* Ending a 500 percent energy-tax increase New Yorkers pay on their utility bills next year, rather than in 2014, to save taxpayers $600 million.
* Tying existing tuition-tax credits and deductions to the Higher Education Price Index so tuition assistance keeps pace with inflation. The plan would boost the current tax deduction from $10,000 to $13,820 and the maximum credit from $400 to $553.
* Providing tax credits of up to $5,000 to businesses for each new job they create, up to $8,000 for hiring an unemployed worker and up to $10,000 for hiring a returning military veteran.