Saladino Photo-op Caption Audacity of Lies

A photo-op of Assemblyman Joe Saladino isn't unusual. He's in the local papers weekly, smiling as he shakes this persons hand or hands out some sort of proclamation. But this past week was a goldmine in the form of the caption. Saladino is shaking hands with Mayor Mike Bloomberg in the picture (seen below) and the caption reads "Assemblyman Joseph Saladino recently met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to discuss issues important to the people of the 12th Assembly District and to share common ground in their recognition of the NY Giants Super Bowl victory. Assemblyman Saladino discussed such issues as his strong opposition of any New York City commuter tax and his disapproval of congestion pricing. The Assemblyman said, “I am vehemently against any taxes and fees charged to Long Island residents. I also spoke with the Mayor about the disproportionate method by which school aid is distributed in the Governor’s State Budget. I enlightened Mayor Bloomberg that Long Islanders pay far more in property and school taxes than New York City residents and asked for his help and understanding as we all lobby the Governor.”

Now, if he actually said that to Bloomberg, I bet the picture would have been of Bloomberg punching Saladino in his dream box.
I really don't see Saladino telling the Mayor of NYC that the City doesn't pay it's share of taxes and that Bloomberg should get the governor to give more money to Long Island.
Saladino (or a minion) wrote the standard boilerplate "NYC is taking all our money" caption to scare Long Island homeowners.
Too bad Saladino is lying.
First of all, New York City gets $11billion less than it pays to New York State in taxes. Nassau gets $4billion less.
Who is getting the shaft from the state more?
Saladino says "Long Islanders pay far more in property and school taxes than New York City residents." Well.... Not quite.
The main issue here is that the NYC tax structure is much different than Nassau or Suffolk.
There IS NO SCHOOL TAX, Joe.
Saying that LI pys more in school taxes than NYC is just misleading and Saladino, Fuschillo, Skelos and the rest of the republicans do it all the time.
New York City has an INCOME TAX. Something we do not have here in Nassau.
If you look at the tax rates in NYC, add the property tax and income tax and the tax burden is practically the same.. and in some cases more.
Let's take an average home in Queens assessed at $400,000. Now keep in mind this is a house on a lot much smaller than the average Nassau lot. The PROPERTY tax on that house will be about $4000.
Now let's say the household income is $120,000 for joint filers. The INCOME TAX for them would be about $3900.
So the total tax burden for that household (not counting other tax levies) is almost $8000 per year.
If the income is higher, the tax burden keeps increasing. In some cases, the assessed value and property tax may go down but because of salary increases, the household is paying the same or more.
Saladino should stop spreading lies.
The simple fact is that it is NOT NYC that is a problem but the inability of our State Legislators to deliver consistent and fair funding for our schools.