Andrew Cuomo (AP)
Cut the taxes and red tape, Gov. Cuomo!
New York City business leaders picked by Cuomo to help boost the local economy are urging him to eliminate a 2 percent tax on energy bills and streamline more than a dozen environmental regulations that they claim hinder development and stymie job creation, The Post has learned.
The package of proposals, submitted to Cuomo by the New York City Regional Economic Development Council, also recommends litigation reform and an overhaul of insurance laws to help lower costs, as well as revamping purportedly ineffective affirmative-action programs.
Cuomo is reviewing the proposals as he prepares to unveil his budget plan Tuesday.
The panel calls for the repeal of the tax on energy bills, a $400 million annual tax imposed on utility and energy firms in 2009 by then-Gov. Paterson and the Legislature to balance a recession-racked state budget. The tax doesn’t expire until 2014.
The power companies merely pass along the tax to their customers by hiking utility bills by 2 percent or more.
“This is one of the reasons why New York’s energy costs are among the highest in the country,” said panel member Kathryn Wylde, CEO of the New York City Partnership. “It’s ridiculous. Utility customers pay for this.”
Previously, a much more modest tax was dedicated to the Public Service Commission to help finance its oversight of utilities. But Albany then dramatically hiked the tax and diverted the revenues to the state treasury.
The panel, co-chaired by CUNY Chancellor Matthew Goldstein and American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault, also recommends extending tax credits to businesses with fewer than 50 workers through the state Excelsior Jobs Program.
“The 50-job threshold for Excelsior tax credits excludes the small businesses key to the success of innovation,” the panel’s report said.
On the regulatory front, the panel recommends speeding up the state’s mandatory environmental reviews for development projects, which typically take more than 18 months.
Also, permits for waterfront development should be approved more quickly, the panel said.
The current environmental rules lead to costly delays and kill projects and jobs, the report said.
Elsewhere, the panel recommends allowing construction contractors to obtain cheaper “wrap-up” insurance covering all subcontractors and other parties on a project instead of getting separate and costlier insurance policies for each.
The panel also endorsed efforts to reduce litigation costs to the city and state by approving a ban on injury lawsuits when affected workers have already accepted workers’ compensation benefits.
And it called for caps to limit hospital costs in medical-malpractice cases.
Meanwhile, the report was critical of the state’s affirmation-action programs, known as Minority and Women and Business Enterprise.
The programs focus on minority participation per government contract rather than developing more comprehensive programs to increase minority opportunities in the private sector, the report said.
A Cuomo spokesman said the administration had not yet reviewed the report.