Re: [CPEO-BIF] New York's Brownfields tax credits

["Larry Schnapf" <larry@schnapflaw.com>]

There is no doubt that the NY BCP is very generous and probably needs some
tweaking. However, the article seems very one-sided to me. 

First, it does not take into account the economic benefits flowing from
these projects, just compared the cleanup costs to the tax credits. The
developers of these projects invested real dollars into New York and created
jobs. These benefits seem to have been completely ignored. 

Second, these projects were accepted into the program before the tax caps
were implemented. It would be interesting to see how the tax caps are
working. 

Larry 

Lawrence Schnapf
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-----Original Message-----
From: brownfields-bounces@lists.cpeo.org
[mailto:brownfields-bounces@lists.cpeo.org] On Behalf Of Lenny Siegel
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2011 8:04 PM
To: Brownfields Internet Forum
Subject: [CPEO-BIF] New York's Brownfields tax credits

State 'fix' losing credit
Builders make lucrative use of state tax credits meant for site cleanup

By BRIAN NEARING
Albany Times-Union (NY)
February 7, 2011

ALBANY -- It could take years to fix the state program that, while 
intended to clean polluted sites, has resulted in hundreds of millions 
of dollars flowing into a relative handful of costly mega-projects with 
mini-cleanups.

In three years, the Brownfield Cleanup Program cost taxpayers more than 
$464 million in tax credits, which are cash payments directly from the 
state treasury, but created only about $340 million in cleanups, 
according to a Times Union analysis of annual reports by the state 
Department of Taxation and Finance.

Instead, more than 90 percent of the credits rewarded developers for new 
buildings, according to the analysis, which covers 49 projects that 
received tax credits from 2007 through 2009. Dozens of other projects 
form a backlog that could cost the state eye-popping sums for years to come.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/State-fix-losing-credit-1000275.php

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org



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