Josh Wanderer: Cut taxes or lose them

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Race for the 4th

By Michael Orbach

Issue of October 22, 2010/ 14 Cheshvan 5771

Josh Wanderer, a tax lawyer who is running for the 4th New York Assembly seat, says Albany must make a stark choice: either lower taxes or face not getting them in the first place.

“People come to me and one of the things they ask is how do I change my residence from New York to Florida?” Wanderer told The Jewish Star. “How do I move my business so I don’t have to pay New York taxes?”

That’s why Wanderer, a Lawrence resident, says he’s running for the seat currently held by longtime Assemblyman Harvey Weisenberg (D-Long Beach).

“It sounds cliche, but I’m running for the future of my kids.”

Wanderer has three children, ages 15,12 and 10 and he serves on the boards of both Congregation Beth Sholom and the Hebrew Academy of the Five Towns and Rockaway.

He says that the government is not seeing the big picture in imposing taxes that will eventually drive the wealthy out of New York.

“It’s a group that doesn’t have a lot of sympathy,” Wanderer said. “We drive out the millionaires, who are you going to go after? If they’re not around to tax, someone’s got to pony up the dough.”

Wanderer says he’ll bring a pragmatic approach to government, based on his profession.

“Government is like a business, we lose our customers, we’re going to have to do something else,” he explained. To curb taxes, Wanderer plans to implement what he calls the Ten-Ten plan, a 10 percent cut in spending across the board.

“No more sacred cows,” Wanderer explained. “The people say it can’t be done. I say,

‘Look a little bit west of here.’ New Jersey, where Governor [Chris] Christie cut spending by 11 billion dollars in one year. Don’t tell me it can’t be done.”

Ten percent Wanderer says will bring New York back to where it was two years ago.

“People, families and businesses have to live at certain levels,” he explained. “The government should not be an exception to that.”

Wanderer says he’ll focus more on tax issues than the social issues that have been favored by Weisenberg, He described Weisenberg as a “good suit, worn thin.”

“It’s the economy we have to address,” Wanderer asserted. “Social issues won’t matter if no one can afford to live in Nassau County anymore.”

His first goal, he says, is to make every effort to ensure that the property tax cap passes in the Assembly and to readjust the balance of school support the district receives.

“I’ve met people who have told me we’re moving.” Wanderer said. “I met one gentleman, he was living in the home he grew up, [he] can no longer afford to live in it.”

He says he isn’t daunted by the dysfunction in Albany.

“This is a man-made creation,” Wanderer said. “We made it, we can unmake it… It’ll make the building of Rome look easy.”