New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo has collected "at least $650,000 in campaign contributions from recipients of tax credits to redevelop industrial sites during the past four years," a Bloomberg News report reveals. In an ostensible pay-to-play scheme, Gov. Cuomo received the contributions from recipients of brownfield redevelopment tax credits.
The brownfields program, approved in 2003, entitles developers to income- or corporate-tax credits for redeveloping sites where hazardous materials may be present, such as former gas stations or abandoned factories. The credits are refundable, meaning that if a developer’s tax liability is less than the full credit, they’re eligible for a cash refund of the difference.
When he first ran for governor, Cuomo, a Democrat, promised to review the program to make sure it was targeted to communities that need it most. Now, as he gears up for re-election, Cuomo, 56, has said he’ll likely sign a bill that extends it until 2017.
Although intended to remediate blighted land, the tax credits have instead overwhelmingly benefited real estate developers, among them major donors of Gov. Cuomo.
The study of New York state tax credits, by Donald Boyd of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government and Marilyn Marks Rubin of John Jay College, found that in almost 10 years, only 133 of the state’s estimated 10,000 brownfields sites were cleaned up through the incentives.