New York could increase weekly benefits for laid-off workers and delay unemployment tax increases for employers under a bill the Senate passed this week.
State lawmakers are hoping to help an economy that is recovering but at a slower pace than the nation: New York’s 6.2% unemployment rate in December was more than two points higher than the national rate.
The state Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the legislation sponsored by state Sen. Anna Kaplan, a Democrat from Long Island. The bill now awaits a vote in the Assembly.
Taxes on employers fund the nation’s unemployment insurance system, with tax rates depending on how much employers pay workers and how many workers they have laid off. Those taxes increase when rising unemployment rates deplete those funds.
Kaplan’s bill would delay those tax increases for two years. New York would then recalculate the rates to address the state’s deficit at that time.
New York would also raise maximum weekly unemployment benefits this year and next. Those benefits did not increase as planned because New York’s unemployment trust fund ran a deficit.
“Many of our state’s small businesses have barely survived the challenges of the pandemic, and if we allow them to be hit by massive increases in their payroll taxes, many will be forced to close their doors forever,” said Kaplan, who chairs the Senate Committee on Commerce, Economic Development and Small Business.
“At the same time, we can’t forget about the workers who lost their jobs due to the pandemic and who rely on unemployment insurance benefits to make ends meet,” he added.
New York owes more than $9 billion in unemployment debt to the federal government, an amount that has skyrocketed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and economic restrictions.
–
