Anti-Poverty Groups Call for Universal Health Care, Job Creation,Closing Corporate Tax Loopholes

(State Capitol) Sixty anti-poverty advocates at the 16th Annual People’s State of the State Rally said that decades of tax cuts and handouts for wealthy New Yorkers and large corporations has resulted in long lines at emergency food programs, a huge increase in the number of working poor households and millions of New Yorkers without access to affordable housing or health care.

Each week, more than 900,000 New Yorkers use emergency food pantries. Many are the working poor. More than one in four working families in New York are “low-income”.

“We can not afford another year of barebones budgets that increases corporate welfare while urgent needs for housing, food, education and human services go unfunded,” stated Mark Dunlea, Associate Director of Hunger Action Network of New York State. “The three men in the back room have to get real about what their tax cuts for the rich have done to the quality of life for the rest of us. It is irresponsible for them to argue that we can solve a $6 billion budget deficit and raise billions for education and local Medicaid costs by further cutting services they have already slashed to the point of crisis.”

The groups support raising billions by closing corporate tax loopholes that enable multistate companies to evade paying their fair share of taxes; raising the Personal Income Tax rate on the wealthiest New Yorkers; and, broadening the sales tax to include services like accountant and lawyers fees. They also called for a major overhaul of the state’s corporate welfare program. “New York’s economic development program has scandalously wasted billions of our tax dollars, with inadequate oversight to ensure that living wage jobs are actually being created in our communities. It is time to create jobs, not reward campaign contributors,” added Dunlea.

The groups also support shifting more economic development funds to worker training and targeting more funds to specific populations, including low-income individuals.

Many groups are calling for the creation of a legislative Commission on Universal Health Care to deal with the state’s health care crisis. “We pay far too much money for
a health care system that leaves millions without health care coverage. We have an infant mortality rate as high as third world countries. We have to stop applying Band-aids to a health care system that is hemorrhaging money and people. If the rest of the world can figure out how to provide quality health care to all its citizens, why can’t we?” asked Dunlea.

More than 5.6 million New Yorkers, one-out-of three people under the age of 65, did not have health coverage for all or part of 2002-2003, according to a report by Citizen Action. Most of these New Yorkers, 65%, went without health insurance for six months or longer. Three-out-of-four of people who were uninsured in New York are working. In addition, the rising cost of providing long term care to seniors is putting severe strains on county property taxes. While the groups support a state takeover of the county’s Medicaid costs, they have opposed the Governor’s various proposals to cut health care services for adults and others.

“Governor Pataki claims that economic development is one of his prime objectives,” said Roger Markovics, Co-Director of United Tenants of Albany. “The lack of affordable housing is the Achilles heel of economic development. Yet the Governor has cut affordable housing programs severely in last year’s budget.”

The Empire State Economic Security Campaign is calling for hundreds of millions of dollars to be invested in an affordable housing program that would also create tens of thousands of jobs for carpenters, electricians, plumbers and the rest of the construction industry.

"Working families need to be able to get ahead in our economy. It is not enough to keep up with the cost of living because the real costs of housing, medical access, education and security in old age are rising faster than the calculated cost of living. We cannot keep our heads above water with a Band-Aid approach of government programs for the poor. We need true economic opportunity, real living wage jobs" said Anthony Pierce, a Board Member of the Capital District Worker Center.

Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of SENSES, called upon the legislature to overturn the Governor’s vetoes of $235 million in funding for human services or to pass a supplemental budget. The State’s fiscal year runs to March 31. “The legislature still has unfinished work on the 2005-06 budget. The Governor’s vetoes are wreaking havoc on the ability of many organizations to deliver services. A wide range of affected organizations — educational institutions, libraries, veterans, at-risk youth, individuals with disabilities, low-income people and alcohol and substance abuse treatment providers, affordable housing, youth development — are unable to provide the services for which they are responsible.”

Mary Rainey, Schenectady Inner City Ministry Food Program Director, talked about the increased demand for emergency food. State funding for emergency food has been cut by $2 million in recent years. “We are seeing more and more workers coming to our program due to low wages. Many working families are earning just above the maximum level for the food stamp program. It is particularly hard on these families when children are home on school vacations and not receiving meals at school. We are also seeing an average of 50 new households a month moving upstate from the New York City area.”

The groups are urging that state funding for the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program be increased from $22.8 million to $30 million.

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About a dozen county executives held a news conference today in Albany. They want the legislature to cap local contributions to Medicaid at 2003 levels. NY is unusual in that it requires the counties and NYC to pay 1/4 of the cost of Medicaid. Medicaid costs are rising rapidly due to the cost of providing long term care to senior citizens.

The County Executives said the cap had to be "unconditional. It is no good if they say we have a cap IF the following 20 conditions are met." They pointed out that 30% of the Medicaid caseload accounts for 70% of expenditures and they want managed care for that portion.

They estimated that the current cost to the state of the Cap would be $600 million annually.

They stated they want quality health care for everyone.

They did not respond to questions from reporters as to whether they had discussed the need to raise state taxes with Governor Pataki, Assembly Speaker Silver or Senator Majority Leader Bruno. While they avoided the issue of whether they discussed the need to cut services, they did say they saw the need to cut expenditures.

The reporters asked why would taxpayers care about this issue, since ultimately they are still the ones footing the bill whether it is state tax dollars or county. They said that the state income tax is better than the county property or sales tax.

No questions were asked about the possibility of a federal block grant of Medicaid or any long term solutions to the state's health care crisis.

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County and business executives complain about Medicaid costs

The Associated Press

January 4, 2005, 1:24 PM EST

ALBANY, N.Y. -- County executives and business executives both attacked Medicaid mandates Tuesday, saying they threaten the delivery of local services and the state's business climate.

A delegation of county executives pressed their case before legislative leaders and Gov. George Pataki, arguing that the state needs to give them relief from a Medicaid bill that now costs county and New York City taxpayers $6 billion a year.

The executives include Nassau County's Thomas Suozzi, who has launched a campaign called "Fix Albany" that is aimed at scaling back the local Medicaid burden. A Suozzi-backed candidate knocked off Democratic state Assemblyman David Sidikman of Nassau County last fall and new Democratic state Sen. David Valesky won a Syracuse-area seat with Souzzi's backing.

Erie County Executive Joel Giambra said Tuesday that Pataki is seeking Medicaid cost containment measures in the state Legislature, though the Buffalo-area official was worried that some of the proposals have been rejected by legislators in the past.

The executives hoped to hear further details when Pataki delivers his State of the State address Wednesday to a joint session of the state Legislature in Albany.

Counties and New York City pay about 20 percent of Medicaid costs in New York, with the state covering about 30 percent and the federal government 50 percent.

Medicaid funds a host of health-related programs in the state, including coverage for the poor, long-term care for the aged and disabled and support for teaching colleges.

Meanwhile Tuesday, the state Business Council said Medicaid costs are of increasing concern to business executives in the state. Half of the 480 businessmen responding to a survey from the Albany-based corporate lobbying group said reforming Medicaid was either their top 2005 priority or a "very important" one.

Nearly 80 percent of those surveyed said budget and tax issues were a top priority or "very important" _ with several of the executives complaining about a local property tax burden that in part is imposed to meet Medicaid costs. One executive told the group "we need to slay this beast that is destroying the economic health of this state. What good are healthy people if there are not employers left?"