KINGSTON – Ulster County Democrats are pushing back at Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman for his criticism of the Ulster County Fair Taxes Act.
Blakeman, a Republican, held a news conference in Kingston on Monday to blast the proposed new 16.75% income tax, noting that the hike cannot become law without Governor Kathy Hochul’s explicit sign-off in Albany. The legislation would impose income tax surcharges on wealthy residents and potentially provide property tax relief for middle and lower-income workers.
Blakeman said that when he is Governor, the Ulster County Fair Taxes Act will be “dead on arrival.” Republican Ulster County legislators previously blasted the proposal.
“The Ulster County for Fair Taxes Act is intended to reduce the County’s reliance on property taxes and ease the burden on residents, small businesses, and farms at a time when the cost of basic necessities is skyrocketing,” Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger said. “The need for this has taken on greater urgency as Congress and the Trump administration shift billions of dollars in federal safety net costs to states and counties to pay for tax cuts benefiting the wealthy while increasing the property tax burden on our communities.”
“A 16.75% surcharge on state tax amounts to a 0.1-2% tax on income, so either Blakeman lacks the basic comprehension skills required of a Governor, or he’s comfortable misleading voters,” added Assemblywoman Sarahana Shrestha. “It’s probably a little bit of both. Let’s look at the facts. Not only has the Trump administration made cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, which many New Yorkers depend on, including Republican voters, but his so-called big, beautiful bill also shifted costs of administering these programs to counties, essentially forcing them to raise property taxes. Let me repeat that: Republicans chose to make New York’s counties pay more, even if that means an increase in property taxes.”
Metzger joined State Senator Michelle Hinchey and Shrestha to announce the proposed legislation last month. The proposal would impose a 16.75% income tax surcharge, paid to Ulster County through Home Rule authority, on single filers living in the county who earn more than $200,000 annually and joint filers who earn more than $400,000.
“We pay the highest taxes in the nation, and people are fleeing the state because they simply can’t afford to live here,” Blakeman said. “Yet, Kathy Hochul’s allies in Ulster County want to create a new 16.75% income tax? It defies common sense. But they can’t do it alone — the Governor has to sign off on it. I already stepped in and killed a scheduled $150 million tax hike in Nassau County, and I will bring that exact same tax relief to the entire state of New York.”
A spokesperson for Governor Hochul said that she will review the legislation if it passes both houses of the legislature.
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