By Steve Levy
Another year has come and gone, and we’ve experienced policy initiatives that both benefited the state’s residents and hurt them as well.
Here is hoping that 2026 will bring us nothing but success in enhancing the quality of life in New York and throughout the nation. So here is my wish list:
- Raise or eliminate the capital gains tax on home sales — It was a big deal in the 1990s when a cap was placed on capital gains taxes upon the sale of one’s home. But the $500,000 exclusion for a married couple, which seemed significant then, is now outdated. It should either be raised to $1 million or completely eliminated.
- Place a spending cap for New York — In 2012, Albany placed a cap on taxes and spending on the school and local levels, but exempted themselves. Had they capped the state as well, the state budget today would be $75 billion lower than it is.
- End the Scaffold Law — New York is the only state in the nation that imposes 100% absolute liability on a building owner for worker injuries, even if the worker was drunk and negligent on the job. It raises our insurance rates considerably. Change it.
- End the Triborough Amendment — New York, through a relic called the Triborough Amendment, is the only state in the nation that continues to give salary step increases to government workers, even after the contract has expired. It weakens management’s negotiation leverage and is a contributor to our high property taxes.
- End Mandatory Arbitration — When law enforcement unions in New York are at a stalemate in negotiations with management, they always know they can go to mandatory arbitration, which has traditionally hiked their salaries well beyond that of other municipal workers. Suffolk County police higher-ups, in part because of this provision, will now earn in excess of $250,000 a year. Let them negotiate as any other municipal workers do.
- Place the MTA under a financial control board — These boards have been used to rescue distressed cities from New York to Detroit to San Bernardino. The MTA has shown itself to be unmanageable. The corruption and inefficiencies have led to a mile of subway in New York costing seven times more than other cities around the nation. An independent financial board can rip up those contracts and inefficient rules and start from scratch.
- Re-open the HOV lanes to hybrids — Two decades ago, legislation was passed to encourage people to buy EVs and hybrids by allowing them access onto the HOV lanes with single occupancy. It worked. More of these vehicles were purchased and traffic on the other three lanes was reduced. Allowing the rule to expire hurts the environment and has only led to more gridlock. Reinstate the access.
- End sanctuary cities — We must end the insanity of welcoming illegal aliens into our states and cities, only to turn around and provide them with taxpayer-financed housing, food stamps and healthcare. More ludicrous is allowing hardened criminals to be freed onto our streets rather than turning them over to federal authorities for deportation.
- Tie rent laws to income — If rent control laws are not going to be eliminated, they, at the very least, should be tied to an individual’s income. A millionaire friend was offered over half a million dollars to just leave his rent-controlled apartment where he only pays about $1,000 a month. The market value of the unit is closer to $4,000 to $5,000 a month. Hard rent controls might be justified for the poor and working classes, but how do we justify it for those in the higher income brackets, such as New York’s incoming mayor?
- Open New York to fracking — It’s an utter disgrace that the struggling people in Western New York are continuously denied the opportunity for the riches that would flow from opening the area to fracking to extract natural gas. Nearby Pennsylvania is booming because it did not make the same dumb decision. Natural gas is responsible for transitioning America from dirty coal and oil and thereby lessening our carbon footprint. Allowing fracking would be both environmentally and economically beneficial. So stop the pandering to the green extremists.
- Ban marijuana in public — It is commendable that state laws changed with the times and stopped criminalizing those who wanted to use recreational marijuana in their homes. But allowing the rampant use of marijuana in our outdoor spaces has infringed upon non-users who detest the horrific odor. Don’t re-criminalize its use, but restrict it to indoor use.
- Arrest fare beaters — Spending millions of dollars on a study to find out why criminals jump the turnstiles in our subways doesn’t solve the problem; arresting the perpetrators will. Just a few publicized examples will stop this thievery in its tracks.
Wish there was more space for another dozen, but for now, these changes would do just fine.
Steve Levy is President of Common Sense Strategies, a political consulting firm. He served as Suffolk County Executive, as a NYS Assemblyman, and host of the “On the Right Side Podcast.” He is the author of “Solutions to America’s Problems” and “Bias in the Media.” www.SteveLevy.info, Twitter @SteveLevyNY, steve@commonsensestrategies.com