2007 Brings Tax Relief for N.Y. Residents


by Earnest Young - Date: 2007-01-07 - Word Count: 453 Share This!

As of January 1, 2007, New York residents have been benefiting from a decrease in hospital bills, an end to the 'marriage penalty' tax, health insurance equality for the mentally ill, and an increase in minimum wage, which has risen from $6.75 to $7.15 an hour. The hourly rate for workers receiving tips has also risen from $4.35 to $4.60.

The increase in the minimum wage will not only help working families to improve their life, but it will also help the economy since these families now have more money to spend, says Assemblywoman, Susan John, D-Rochester. She also states that New York has the biggest gap between the rich and the poor families with children.

The concern among many small businesses is that with higher wages some businesses may not be able to afford the added labor costs. According to Chris Koetzle of Support Services Alliance, to make up for that money, many businesses will have to close their doors, increase their prices or simply stop hiring.

Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network disagrees with the claim that wage hikes cause job loss. He believes that workers need higher wages, especially wages that increase with inflation.

Another law in effect, call the Timothy's Law, requires that most mental illnesses be covered in the same way as physical ailments. And as a result, health insurance premiums are expected to increase.

Under Timothy's Law no less than 30 inpatient and 20 outpatient annual visits should be taken by mental illness patients. Companies with 50 or less employees will be taken care of by the sate, but the bigger companies will have to provide extra coverage for illnesses such as schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder, and depression.

Koetzle believes that for small businesses that are already paying the highest property taxes and the highest workers' compensation, paying the highest minimum wage and health insurance in the country will prove to be damaging.

Most advocates say that discrimination in insurance policies will soon come to an end. They state that as a result of mental illness, the business is affected in the areas of employee absence or a decrease in productivity.

New York's 'marriage penalty' tax has also come to an end. In the new guidelines, the standard deduction for married couples filing jointly will increase to $15,000 and $7,500 for married people filing separately. This change has brought them in line with filers who are single or married filing separately.

As a result of this calculation, taxpayers will save $41 million this year, which could put up to one thousand dollars or more in the pockets of each family.

The icing on the cake is a new $330 child tax credit that parents with children between 4 and 17 years of age are entitled to.


Related Tags: new york, tax deduction, marrriage tax, new tax rules

Earnest Young is an accounting and tax writer for http://www.accentaccounting.net

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