14 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 30, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM E-Z Tax Service of NY Inc. ������������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 347-438-1844 Income Tax Preparation ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������� Call Now & End Your Tax Nightmare! �������������������������������������� �������������������������������������� �������������������������������� �������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������ Co-Author of the best selling book “Breaking the Tax Code” �������������������������������� �������������������������������� Salvatore P. Candela, EA, ATA, ABA Enrolled Agent - Tax Advisor ���������������������������������������������������������������� ������������������������������������������������������ TAX TIPS Is The “Millionaires Tax” Here To Stay? BY JOHN SAVIGNANO Individuals with taxable New York income of more than $1,077,550 a year or joint fi lers earning above $2,155,350 a year are subject to the state’s “millionaires tax.” Roughly 45,000 taxpayers are in that 8.82% state income tax bracket, according to the state Division of the Budget. Approximately half of them live outside New York State, and about a quarter live in New York City. Unless the state extends the tax, it will expire December 31. Gov. Andrew Cuomo last month proposed continuing it through 2020. It’s controversial because it was initially billed as temporary, and only six states and Washington, D.C., have a higher top tax rate. Th e Legislature can do nothing and let the millionaires tax die without losing the middle-class tax cuts it was once paired with. But the political impetus for including it in the next state budget is strong: Lawmakers would rather not raise taxes and fees or slash billions in spending to close the defi cit that would be created if the tax ends. Th e impact of its expiration on the budget three quarters of the way through the next fi scal year would be a loss of $683 million, Cuomo’s budget offi ce estimates, and would balloon to $3.4 billion in fi scal 2018 and $4 billion two years later. Another factor in the tax’s favor is that few constituents of Senate Republicanswho mostly represent working-class upstate districts-have to pay it. Polls show across-the-board support for a higher rate on top earners. A vote on the fi scal 2018 budget is expected in late March. Before the tax was created in 2009, joint fi lers earning above a mere $40,000 fell into the state’s highest tax bracket-paying 6.85%. Th e millionaires tax replaced an essentially fl at tax with a graduated one. As a result, a 2015 analysis by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found, New York top 1% of earners pay 8.1% of their income in state and local taxes, including property and sales taxes. Nationwide only California’s top earners hand over a larger portion. But New York’s richest still pay a lower share of their income to the government than the state’s bottom 20% of earners do. While the poorest fi ft h don’t make enough to pay state income taxes, they still shell out 10.4% of their family income on property, sales and excise taxes. Th e middle 20% of earners lose 12% of their income to taxes. John Savignano is a partner with Savignano Accountants & Advisors located at 47-46 Vernon Blvd., Second Floor, in Long Island City. For questions, dial 718-707-0955.
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