NEW YORK—About a dozen new laws took effect when the clock struck midnight on New Year’s Eve, including the middle-class tax cut package.
The Middle Class Tax Cut and Job Creation plan features $690 million in personal income tax relief for 4.4 million middle-class taxpayers, and the lowest tax rate in half a century, says a New York State Senate document.
One of the components, a reduction in taxes from the MTA Payroll tax, will provide tax relief for small businesses and create jobs, according to a video and statements by Senator Lee Zeldin.
More than 290,000 small businesses, or four-fifths of those currently affected, will no longer pay the tax.
This action invoked strongly worded reactions from transportation advocates.
“The MTA can’t keep trains and buses running on promises,” said Paul Steely White of Transportation Alternatives in a press release. The release also stated that the plan puts public transportation riders “in a perilous position,” since the $250-plus million lost annually hasn’t been replaced by a stable source.
The plan includes tax relief for manufacturers, and caps the property tax at two percent or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.
Other Laws
An amended law now requires drivers to move a lane over when approaching hazard vehicles that assist with broken down vehicles, snow removal, or construction.
Possessing and selling bear gallbladder and bile, used in ancient medicine, is now banned. Black bears have been illegally killed in New York for these purposes. Only four states now have no restrictions on the trade of bear gallbladder and bile, states the New York State Senate press release.
Selling hookahs, water pipes, and shishas—which originated in the Middle East and have become popular in the United States—to minors is now banned.
Health insurance plans must cover orally administered chemotherapy treatments under a new law, and another law requires dentists to have automatic external defibrillators at their office.
Removing fire commissioners for “dereliction of duties including having an excessive number of unexcused absences from regularly scheduled meetings,” is now authorized, says the Senate release.
Selling household dishwasher detergents that contain phosphorus, limiting phosphorous in lawn fertilizers, and strengthening the Department of Environmental Conservation’s ability to ban products that contain mercury are the result of two new laws.
