This is the time every year that I seriously think about moving out of New York.
I just received my school tax bill. I am a retired senior citizen and my school tax was more than $12,000. It makes no sense to me to send a crushing bill like this to a fixed income senior citizen who has not had a child in the school system for 10 years now.
It is not that I don’t support public schools. It is just ridiculous that retired senior citizens are expected to pay such bills. Is it a wonder why so many retired people move out of New York?
How about all seniors who are 65 and over automatically get 50% off of their school tax assessment? That would make the school funding process more user-based and fairer. In my case, I would still be contributing $6,000 per year with no children in the school system.
I can only assume that our governor and state legislators are clueless as I don’t see anyone pushing significant changes for the school state funding formula. Every election season I hear talk about it, but every year I receive a higher school tax bill. Not sure what they are waiting on as this seems like an easy fix. How many more people do they want to see leave New York with their pensions and spending power?
Seniors add no costs into a school budget. Seniors should be incented to stay in New York to keep school taxes low. Instead, seniors are being penalized with five digit school tax bills and forced to leave for tax friendly states.
Let’s start a movement. If you are 55+ take a photo of this letter and email it to our state leaders email to: brabeneck@nyassembly.gov; skoufis@nysenate.gov; and https://shorturl.at/C3wTg.
Donald R. Humphrey
Warwick