2016 Public Service Excellence Team Award Goes to the NYS Tax Department

The State Academy for Public Administration (SAPA) presented its 2016 Team Excellence Award to the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance’s Corporate Tax Reform team on May 16 at the Rockefeller College of Public Affairs & Policy in Albany.

“These extraordinary public servants are among those who lead the way to make sure programs and services are delivered effectively to the public,” said SAPA Chair Paul Shatsoff about the award recipients. “Their good work is often out of the public eye, so the State Academy is very pleased to honor their accomplishments.”

The Corporate Tax Reform Team was honored for its contribution to historic corporate tax reform, the most comprehensive overhaul in nearly 75 years.

Tax Commissioner Jerry Boone lauded the team’s “considerable expertise, resolve, and ingenuity,” and thanked government and industry stakeholders for their vital engagement and support for the initiative.

Team members established core principles and identified key features of potential legislation to ensure that reform proposals enhanced fairness, eased compliance, and met other standards of a sound tax system. They then engaged in an intensive, dynamic collaborative effort with taxpayer groups and corporate stakeholders to move reform forward from basic concepts to full-blown draft legislation.

This deft approach received validation when Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Tax Reform and Fairness Commission recommended adoption of the reform proposal with minor modifications, and Governor Cuomo included the measure in the 2014-2015 Executive Budget. The sweeping reform legislation was enacted into law as part of the 2014-2015 Budget.

The implementation work—issuing guidance, composing new forms, and drafting regulations with ongoing input from taxpayer groups—is now under way. 

Source: The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance