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Forestburg, NY – A deal to roll back the MTA payroll tax in the Mid-Hudson Valley has been extended beyond small business and parochial schools to include all public schools and BOCES. The State Legislature approved the plan on Wednesday. WAMC's Hank Gross reports...
Small businesses to be exempt from the tax are now defined as those with payrolls of less than $1.25 million.
This is all good news to Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther (D-Forestburg), whose district includes western Orange County, one of the MTA counties.
"We pay the full amount. We get a fraction of the services and we have a quarter of a vote and this is important to all of us in this area that they give this kind of relief to our businesses and also to our schools and I think it will help tremendously with job creation and with economic development," she said.
Assemblyman and Dutchess County Executive-elect Marc Molinaro (R-Red Hook) said the legislation is putting the state and region "on a track to a better economy and more prosperous middle class."