Taxes & Public Financing

July 9, 2010

Hauppauge, NY -- Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy called upon the State Legislature to pass radical reforms to the state's pension system to prevent its collapse, and to end abuses of the system through excessive overtime.

Levy once again called for these changes on the heels of reports indicating that the state's pension system is on the verge of imploding. In his comprehensive Contract for New York, Levy had called for a privatization of the pension system for incoming employees who would have to follow a 401(k) type of a program, as opposed to the defined benefit that is presently in play.

Additionally, Levy called for a new law that would further limit the amount of overtime that could be credited towards base salary for an employee's pension.  This type of change can be applied to employees immediately, he said.

"The state's public pension system is not only ready to implode but is causing a major headache for local taxpayers," Levy said. "Suffolk County alone will have to come up with 50 million additional dollars next year just to pay for increased pension costs.  This is simply unsustainable for a state that is already one of the highest taxed in the nation."

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June 30, 2010

Congressman Tim Bishop voted today to pass a historic Wall Street reform bill that ends taxpayer bailouts of big banks and will help prevent the risky financial practices that led to the financial meltdown of 2008. It also creates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a new consumer watchdog devoted to protecting Americans from unfair and abusive financial practices.

“Americans were rightly outraged that bad actors on Wall Street could take us to the brink of economic collapse and then demand a bailout,” Congressman Bishop said. “This bill eliminates bailouts and returns healthy regulation to an industry that wrote its own rules for years.”

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act creates a process to shut down large, failing firms whose collapse would put the entire economy at risk. After exhausting all of the company’s assets, additional costs would be covered by a “dissolution fund,” to which all large financial firms would contribute, thus bringing to an end taxpayer-funded bailouts.

To protect consumers of financial products, the independent CFPB will provide clear and accurate information to families and small businesses to ensure that bank loans, mortgages, and credit cards are fair and affordable.  It will also set standards to prevent practices such as hidden credit card fees, deceptive “fine print,” and other financial abuses. The bill will also enforce consumer protection laws already on the books by strengthening oversight and empowering regulators to aggressively pursue financial fraud, conflicts of interest and manipulation of the financial system.

“After losing 8 million jobs and trillions of dollars in wealth, the American people are finally getting the Wall Street reform they have demanded from Washington,” Bishop said. “Reforming financial services is a critical step in our ongoing effort to create jobs and build a sound economy that rewards healthy risk-taking and long-term growth.”

Elizabeth Warren, Chair of the nonpartisan Congressional Oversight Panel, called the bill the “strongest set of Wall Street reforms in three generations.” It has been endorsed by the AARP, Consumer Federation of America, Consumers Union, Council of Institutional Investors, National Fair Housing Alliance, National Restaurant Association, Public Citizen, SEIU, and US PIRG, among other organizations.

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act passed by a bipartisan vote of 237 to 192. The legislation is now under consideration in the Senate.

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