Durant: When labor unions say “jump,” Albany says “how high?”
Is Gov. Cuomo’s Latest Gift to Labor Unions “Crazy?”
A plan by Gov. Andrew Cuomo that would enact an affordable
housing tax credit paired with wage subsidies for developers and workers is
“crazy,” NFIB/New York State Director Mike Durant told the New York Daily
News in August.
The plan would restore the now-expired 421-a tax credit, which
allots developers tax credits for the workers they hire to build affordable
housing.
“This is probably something the labor unions want and I
think we’re finding that when the labor unions say ‘jump’, everyone in Albany
says ‘how high,” Durant told the New York newspaper.
The proposal seemed to be another attack on the Empire State’s
small business owners, who are already sagging under the weight of a $15
minimum wage hike.
The Empire Center for Public Policy’s E.J. McMahon added that
the tax-and-wage subsidy would possibly be the only one of its kind nationwide.
“It’s a real head scratcher having a tax subsidy and a
wage subsidy,” McMahon said. “I’m struggling to think of anything
like it in the country.
