Crains New York - January 14, 2013 - (Page 6)
Candidate pitches tax breaks INSIDER
THE
Set up shop in NYC?
No levies for three
years, says Tom Allon
BY ANNIE KARNI
Mayoral candidate Tom Allon may
be a long shot in the race, even after
switching parties to Republican
from Democrat last fall in order to
gain a competitive edge.
But even as the GOP side of the
mayoral equation fills up with potential
rivals, the newspaper publisher
is forging ahead and unveiling
an economic agenda heavy on tax
breaks for startups.
Mr.Allon told Crain’she wants to
offer a three-year tax holiday to businesses
that set up shop in the city, as
well as tax credits of up to $15,000
for existing business that hire unemployed
residents. A business would
get $10,000 from the city for retaining
a previously unemployed person
for a year. That subsidy would increase
by 50% if the employee were
to stay put for two years.
Subsidy ‘du jour’?
James Parrott,chief economist for
the Fiscal Policy Institute, dismissed
the tax holiday as a gimmick.“No one
is going to start a business or hire
people in New York City unless it
makes sound business sense,”he said.
“The tax break du jour approach is
just candy. It might seem like a nice
treat,but it’s not healthy for anyone.”
Crain’s
First
Look:
Companies could also game the system,
he said, changing names to appear
new and thus avoid taxes for
three years, or laying off workers and
then rehiring them to get credit.
Mr.Allon, who trails other contenders
in fundraising with only
$35,000, said increased employment
would pay for the incentives.
A second prong of his economic
plan—renting unused city office
space at below-market rates—
would also generate new revenue for
the city, he said.
“For city-controlled real estate
where there is more than two years
of foreseeable vacancy,”
Mr. Allon said,
“the city should subsidize
the expansion
of its businessincubator
program to
broaden opportunities
for local entrepreneurs.”
The proposal
would require a
law change so that the
city would be allowed
to lease its own office
space at a discount.
Mr. Allon
also
wants to invest part of
the city’s pension fund in small business
loan programs and venturecapital
funds that invest in city startups.
“This proposal is not without
precedent; the city teachers’pension
fund invests 2% of its assets to support
local housing projects,” he said
in an email.
Mr. Allon singled out Goldman
Sachs as a company the city has in-
vested in that has outsourced jobs.
Critics
of Mr. Allon’s
proposal
pointed out that Goldman also built
a $2 billion headquarters in lower
Manhattan after Sept. 11.
‘I’m a firm
believer in
dual
minimum
wage’
Going coach
The mayoral hopeful also wants to
expand the city’s New Business Acceleration
Program, which over the
past year helped 500 new restaurants
open.He wants each new business to
have a personal “account manager”
available for coaching. “If every business
in New York City had a person
in government to call and help, this
city would be a much
easier and more efficient
place to do business,”Mr.
Allon said.
He believes his ideas
could reduce unemployment—at
8.8%—
in the city by 5 percentage
points within four
years.Mr.Allon offered
a twist on the
minimum-wage ideas
being floated by state
legislators and Gov.
Andrew Cuomo. “I’m a
firm believer in dual
minimum wage: $7.25 an hour for
those up to 22 years old and $9 an
hour for those older than 22,”he said.
Changing the minimum wage re-
quires approval by the state Legislature.
City Comptroller John Liu, a
Democrat who is also running for
mayor,has said he would like to raise
the minimum wage,currently $7.25,
to $11.50 over the next five years.
Midtown East
Rezoning
Mayor Michael Bloomberg is determined to rezone Midtown East to spur
the construction of modern office towers before he leaves office. Why is it
so important to add new space to the city’s–if not the world's–most
important commercial district? Will it overtake Midtown's infrastructure?
Is the Administration's proposal the best for all the interests involved?
DATE:
Tuesday
January 29, 2013
PLACE:
The Yale Club of New York
50 Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, NY 10017
TIME:
Networking Breakfast:
8:00AM - 8:30AM
Program:
Daniel Garodnick
PANELISTS:
Daniel Garodnick
Council Member, New York City Council
Lawrence Graham
Chief Administrative Officer, St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church
Steven Spinola
President, The Real Estate Board of New York
Robert K. Steel
Deputy Mayor for Economic Development
MODERATOR:
Glenn Coleman
Editor, Crain’s New York Business
Lawrence Graham
Steven Spinola
Robert K. Steel
8:30AM - 9:30AM
COST TO ATTEND:
$95 for individual ticket(s).
$950 for table(s) of ten.
LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE
Register Online at:
www.crainsnewyork.com/
events-midtowneast
For more information, call the
Events Hotline at 212-210-0739.
You must be pre-registered to
attend this event.
No refunds permitted.
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Trish Henry at 212-210-0711
or thenry@crainsnewyork.com
6 |
Crain’s New York Business | January 14, 2013
by Andrew J. Hawkins
Handicapping Cuomo’s proposals
G
ov. Andrew Cuomo’s policy book for his third year in
office at 326 pages contains proposals big (more
restrictive gun control) and small (a whitewater-
rafting competition). It’s a shift from the first half of his
term, when he focused on a few items and made sure to get
them done.The larger agenda for 2013, as well as the usual
Albany politics and an untested power-sharing agreement
in the state Senate,means Mr. Cuomo will not bat 1.000.
Still, insiders and Albany watchers say many of the
governor’s bigger-ticket items, like gun control and broader
abortion rights, are within his grasp.Here’s a look at what’s
attainable, what’s negotiable and what’s pie in the sky:
Low-hanging fruit.Anything tied to rebuilding after
Superstorm Sandy will have a fairly smooth ride through the
Legislature, especially if the federal government is picking up
the check.Congress,however, has approved just $9.7
billion of the $60 billion requested
in aid.
An agreement on gun control
seems at hand. Assembly Speaker
Sheldon Silver has said the Legislature
is 95% of the way there. Republicans
have expressed concerns
about limiting gun magazine capacity,
but have agreed that a deal
is not far off.Some insiders say that
microstamping of ammunition,favored
by police but absent from
Mr.Cuomo’s agenda, is unlikely to
be part of the final package.A deal
could be reached as early as this
week.
Achievable. A hike in the state’s
minimum wage to $8.75 an hour
from the current $7.25 is at the top
of Mr. Silver’s list. The governor’s
strong backing in his State of the
State speech suggests that an increase
is all but certain. Republicans
will demand something in exchange
to offset the grief they are
likely to get from business groups.
The governor said nothing about
indexing the wage to the rate of inflation;omitting
that would mollify
Senate Republicans.
Mr. Cuomo’s call for the de-
criminalization of possession of
small amounts of marijuana was a
loser in 2012 but may well pass this
year.Republicans will likely sit this
one out as dissident Democrats led
by Sen. Jeff Klein join their former
colleagues to approve it.
Campaign finance reform may
happen in piecemeal fashion. Insiders
predict Mr. Cuomo will
overcome Republican fears about
the cost of introducing public financing
of campaigns by floating a
pilot program rather than fullblown
reform.
Legalizing casino gaming will
be a heavy lift for the governor this
year, insiders predict. His call for
three casinos upstate and none (for
now) in New York City is already
being met with skepticism from
downstate legislators, especially in
Queens,who were counting on the
economic boost from casinos in
their districts.If Mr.Cuomo sticks
casino legalization in the budget,it
may give him more leverage. Still,
some insiders aren’t convinced.
“How does it pass?” asked one Albany
source close to the negotiations.
“He’s going to have to give
New York City residents some interest
in the game.”
Pie in the sky. Mr. Cuomo’s 10point
plan to strengthen equality
laws will
face strong opposition
from Republicans, the Conservative
Party, influential religious lobbyists
and business groups that fear
lawsuits against employers. Insiders
predict these hot-button issues
may be a multiyear effort for the
governor.
Crain’s Insider, our award-winning politics newsletter, is
now a blog. Read it every day at www.crainsnewyork.com/insider
newscom
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - January 14, 2013
Crains New York - January 14, 2013
In the Boroughs
In the Markets
The Insider
Business People
Opinion
Greg David
Small Business
Report: Real Estate
The List
Classifieds
New York, New York
Source Breakfast
Out and About
Snaps
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