[Fred]

Rudy better get his story straight before the CNBC/WSJ debate Oct 9th.

[Reagan Man]

Eight cuts on Giuliani's list that actually came from Albany

~ A new college tuition deduction/credit

~ A sales tax exemption for utility transmission and distribution

~ A sales tax exemption on Web hosting and HDTV equipment

~ A reduction in taxes on bank mutual fund companies

~ A cut in the marriage penalty

~ A group of miscellaneous sales tax exemptions

~ School Tax Relief, or STAR, a rebate for a portion of property taxes paid

~ Another STAR program, this one applied to income taxes Source: NYC Independent Budget Office

[Reagan Man]

From the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (Edmund J. McMahon):

"Even with the tax cuts of the last several years, New York remains by far the most heavily taxed big city in the country."

TAXES: From 1996-2001 Giuliani and the City Council agreed to reduce marginal city income taxes by some $2.0-billion, an effort that offset the $1.8-billion tax increase put in place by Mayor Dinkins a few years earlier. So in reality, individual city income taxes were actually cut by a modest $200-million. Giuliani made no effort to make permanent changes to the city income tax code. Giuliani even fought efforts to abolish a 12.5% tax surcharge. The primary reason Rudy and the City Council agreed to cut business taxes, was to make NYCity more appealing to companies thinking about locating/relocating to the Big Apple. A smart move, however, when Rudy left office he left NYCity straddled with some of the highest income, sales, property and general corporation taxes in the entire nation.

[elizabetty]

I would like to see a list of his tax increases.

[businessprofessor]

The largest business tax reduction was the removal of the garbage tax. The mob had a stranglehold on the garbage hauling business for many decades. The cost to remove garbage was enormous. An undercover New York detective and a legitimate hauler worked together to gather evidence that eventually led to many indictments. The mob lost its influence on garbage collection and the price plummeted. For example, a restaurant owner thanked Guiliani in 1997 for his tax cut. Guiliani was a little confused about the tax cut that the business owner referred. The business owner said the garbage tax. He said that his garbage collection costs had fallen from $1,000 per month to $50 per month.