Media Contact: Randolph Yunker - (516) 571-2490

(Mineola, NY) I am not proposing a "Nassau County Income Tax" as the Hempstead Town Supervisor has stated today. I have proposed that a state commissioned committee study the feasibility of eliminating the residential school property tax and replacing it with a modest income tax.

Other than criticize me, I have never heard the Hempstead Town Supervisor propose any school tax relief plan that would help overtaxed families throughout Nassau County. The failure of the town to enforce its zoning and building laws has resulted in a proliferation of illegal and unsafe multi-family apartments. The effect has contributed to higher school taxes.

This press conference is just another desperate attempt to distort my views by an individual who sees me as a potential opponent and threat to the status quo that has existed in the Town of Hempstead for too long.

If the Hempstead Town Supervisor is truly interested in helping the hardworking taxpayers in Nassau County, she should join with me in my call that Governor Pataki form a non-partisan statewide committee to study the school property tax issue and the nearly 1,600 widely different tax rates that are imposed by some 400 taxing jurisdictions throughout the county.