Extra chee$e for za biz: pol
Big Apple pizzerias and other businesses that use coal- and wood-fired ovens should be given public dough — in the form of a tax break — to comply with a new emissions rule, a pieloving Brooklyn pol says.
The Adams’ administration’s controversial regulation, which goes into effect April 27, is already costing some eateries tens of thousands of dollars to install filtration systems to reduce smoky pollutants by the mandated 75%.
Without financial help, some of the city’s famous and beloved pizza joints could go up in smoke or at least hike the cost of Big Apple pies, already the most expensive in the country on average.
“When it comes to our environment, I’ve always believed we should be incentivizing and assisting instead of immediately punishing,” Councilman Justin Brannan, the Finance Committee’s chair, said Monday.
Brannan, whose district includes slice-loving Bay Ridge and Coney Island, is proposing a tax break for the estimated 130 city pizzerias, matzo-makers and other businesses impacted by the anti-pollution rule.
“If the goal here is truly to reduce the emissions produced by these old-school ovens and not to raise revenue by issuing more fines to our beloved small businesses, then let’s help these pizzerias comply instead of setting them up to fail,” Brannan told The Post. “I’m confident we can come up with a solution so nobody gets burned.
“To that end, I have been working on a bill that would work with Albany to create a tax credit to help the affected businesses purchase and install the necessary smoke-reduction emissions exhaust systems.”
Brannan said he hasn’t calculated what the tax credit or break would cost the state treasury, but he said it wouldn’t break the bank.