New York will continue taxing businesses to pay off a multibillion dollar debt to the federal government that funded unemployment benefits during the Covid-19 pandemic, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Monday.
A new state budget will include about $165 million to cover a year’s worth of interest on the $6.5 billion debt, she said at a press conference while announcing a $254 billion budget deal. Hochul and lawmakers declined to pay off the full amount, which would have reduced taxes on businesses by about $300 per year and allowed benefits to increase.
“It is something that is very much in ...