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Paladino Got $3 Million In Tax Breaks, Created 25 Jobs
By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 3, 2010
Modified Oct 3, 2010
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Oct 3, 2010
Modified Oct 3, 2010
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In his first attack ad last week, Andrew Cuomo accused gubernatorial opponent Carl Paladino of being a "welfare king" who pocketed $1.4 million in state tax breaks to create jobs, but created only one. But the Daily News reports that his companies actually netted closer to $3 million in tax breaks, and created a whopping 25 jobs in the process.
The tax breaks came through a state program called Empire Zone; Paladino used $19 million of the Zone money on renovations of his own buildings, completing no new constructions and bringing in no new businesses. Paldino company Ellicott Group mostly generates income through six big office buildings that collect millions of dollars in rent. He even justified some of the tax breaks by selling a dozen vacant lots he owned to himself and claiming hundreds of thousands of dollars in "real property investments" (those investments remain empty lots today).
Paladino's campaign manager defended Paladino's business deals, and called Cuomo's previous accusations a "distortion:" "Ellicott Development spends significant capital buying, building and renovating space to lease to current or prospective tenant businesses...We lure and attract new tenant businesses into Buffalo; these businesses create or at a minimum maintain jobs. Ellicott tenants get tax breaks in the form of a lower rent...The program helps make rents affordable for projects otherwise unaffordable due to high build-out and project costs."
Tagged
andrew cuomo
carl paladino
election 2010
empire zone
tax breaks
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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