Calls the Irishman teamsters local president Kevin mccaffrey and gives him a lesson on ny const art 1 sec 3 as he offers to represent the two infidel cashiers at Nassau oTB to teach him a bit about law and order
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
A Tax Break for Union Dues
The House budget bill includes a $250 per worker write-off.
Union members gather for a rally.
PHOTO: JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/REX/SHUTTERS/EPA/SHUTTERSTOCK
Democrats have agonized for months over where to find money for their blowout tax and spending bill, so it’s worth paying attention to the revenues they explicitly forgo. The bill offers tax breaks for key progressive constituencies, and one that has received little attention is a big gift to Big Labor.
The bill the House passed would allow union members to deduct up to $250 of dues from their tax bills. The deduction is “above the line,” meaning filers can exclude the cost of dues from their gross income. In other words, union dues would get the same treatment now reserved for things like insurance premiums and retirement contributions. The deduction would last through 2025. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates its cost at $1.8 billion.
Supporters frame the tax break as relief for workers. “Unions are the backbone of the middle class,” said Democratic Sen. Bob Casey while introducing a similar provision in April. “This legislation would put money back in the pockets of working families.”
Yet only 11% of the U.S. labor force belongs to unions, as of the last count from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and only 6.3% of the private workforce. The biggest beneficiaries of the tax break would be workers who belong to government unions such as teachers.
The true goal of the tax break is to fill union coffers by making dues less of a deterrent to joining. The incentive would be particularly strong in 23 states without right-to-work laws, where workers pay partial union fees whether or not they’re members. The Democratic tax break would let workers write off that cost by joining the union and deducting some of their dues. The catch is that, unlike nonmember fees, dues include money that goes for campaigns and lobbying.
Democrats collect the lion’s share of that union spending. OpenSecrets, a watchdog for political money, reports that Democrats claimed 90% of union donations in 2020 federal races. The tax break for dues would add more fuel to the political machine.
It’s also a step backward for the tax code, which Republicans helped to rationalize in 2017. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act nearly doubled the standard deduction to replace a hodgepodge of tax breaks, including a previous “below the line” deduction for dues. Instead of returning cash to the average worker, Democrats want all workers to subsidize the unionized few—along with their own election campaigns.
Washington, DC
Washington, DC 20510
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