MONTGOMERY – Backed by some two dozen people wearing “Pay your damn taxes” t-shirts, State Senator James Skoufis (D, Woodbury), announced on Tuesday, that he has launched an investigation into the tax incentives application before the Montgomery Town Industrial Development Agency by health care products company Medline.
The business wants to construct a new distribution facility in Montgomery to replace the current, smaller one in the Town of Wawayanda.
Skoufis, who heads the Senate Investigations Committee, said Medline does not need a payment-in-lieu of taxes deal since it would net $74 million in its first year of operations without one. With a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes, the company would net $76 million.
“God forbid Medline, a corporation that over and over again to want to be a good neighbor only makes $74 million in profits in their first year. This isn’t a business in need of an incentive in order to make their business model work. This is a greedy corporation seeking to milk Montgomery’s taxpayers for all they are worth in subsides,” he said.
Skoufis said it is no coincidence that Medline’s 10-year PILOT in Wawayanda has expired so the company wants a new tax incentive in Montgomery.
The senator said he is not opposed to tax incentives when they genuinely benefit businesses and create jobs, but he maintains that is not the case in this situation.
