Middle-income New Yorkers aged 65 and older are likely to see a tax break next year from the sprawling federal tax and spending legislation, but tax analysts say Social Security income won’t be tax free, contrary to Trump campaign promises.

Keshia Clukey reports in NEWSDAY that the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4, includes a $6,000 tax deduction for seniors starting in the 2025 tax year and expiring by 2029. The deduction phases out for higher income levels, so single filers earning $175,000 or more and married filers earning $250,000 or more will not benefit.

In New York State, 3.7 million residents, or about 1 in 5, receive Social Security benefits, according to AARP.

Trump promised to eliminate the tax on Social Security benefits in his 2024 campaign, but tax analysts say that’s not what this bill does. Instead, it reduces income taxes for seniors on all incomes including Social Security, according to tax analysts.

"There’s some miscommunication," said Joseph Perry, a national tax leader in the Melville office of CBIZ, a national adviser of tax, accounting, advisory, benefits, insurance and technology services.

The bill will mean fewer seniors have to pay taxes, particularly when coupled with an increase in the standard deduction of $750 for single filers and $1,500 for married couples, Perry told Newsday. However, Barry A. Kaufmann, president of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, a senior advocacy group with 670,000 members representing retirees across the state, tells NEWSDAY, "Overall it’s a lousy bill. If you throw in a $6,000 sweetener, that doesn’t get rid of the pain that’s caused to seniors." Kaufmann also noted that the deduction ends in 2028, adding, "This is not a forever thing. It’s very limited in scope."

With more seniors paying less income taxes on their benefits, it means less revenue going toward Social Security’s two trust funds, policy experts and tax analysts said. Taxes on benefits make up a very small portion of the program’s total revenue, but the trust funds already are projected to run short if Congress doesn’t act, according to AARP.

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A pop-up event set to last three days ended after just 40 minutes this past Wednesday when East Hampton Village officials walked over to Herrick Park and found what one said looked like a car dealership with General Motors vehicles. East Hampton Village Administrator Marcos Baladron later described the move as a “trojan horse,” as the village had permitted an educational event. Jack Motz reports on 27east.com that Wednesday morning, General Motors event organizers began unloading equipment and supplies from trucks, as the company planned to showcase about a half dozen cars from its subsidiaries, including Cadillac and Chevrolet, for the next three days. The idea was to show the company’s portfolio of electric vehicles. Less than a minute into the first day, Larry Cantwell, a former village administrator and town supervisor, walked by and realized it was a pop-up marketing event for General Motors. Cantwell told Brad Billet, the president of the East Hampton Village Foundation, that he thought the event inappropriate. Not long after, Cantwell took to Facebook to ask: “New General Motors dealership opened today on Herrick Park. When will the exploitation end?” At around 2 p.m., Mayor Jerry Larsen announced on the village’s official Facebook page that leadership had revoked the permit for the car event because it was outside the scope of what it had originally permitted. By evening, the company had vacated the space.

The original application did not list General Motors. Instead, it gave the name of a limited liability company. The Village of East Hampton, then, gave the green light for an electric vehicle education program...not a sales event. General Motors provided a statement that said the company wishes to introduce electric vehicles in a way that makes sense for the community, as it moves toward an all-electric future.

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The East Hampton Library’s Long Island Collection will hold two events this week focused on the history of East Hampton’s business district.

A special pop-up exhibit, opening Wednesday, July 16, with a reception from 4 to 7 p.m. will be a Sneak Peek Series Exhibit: “Taking Care of Business.”

It will feature images, maps, and documents that record the history of East Hampton’s business district, particularly the areas around Main Street and Newtown Lane and the shops that used to be there. Admission is free but registration is requested.

Then, on Friday, July 18, at 6 p.m., the next in the Tom Twomey Series, “Let’s Get Down to Business!” will feature East Hampton Town Historian Hugh King and The Anchor Society’s Bess Rattray, who will present a virtual walking tour with archival images, personal recollections, and video, highlighting a variety of village storefronts and buildings, providing a hint of nostalgia and a “blueprint for creative ways our community can come together to return heart and soul to Main Street,” noted a press release.

For more information or to register, go to easthamptonlibrary.org.

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New York State education officials have discontinued New York’s race-based admissions policy for advanced STEM classes for middle- and high-school students after a lawsuit by Asian parents. Carl Campanile reports in THE NY POST that the state-funded Science and Technology Entry Program (STEP) admits 11,000 seventh- to 12th-grade students a year for classes at 56 participating colleges and medical schools statewide, with a related College Science and Technology Entry Program (CSTEP).

The pre-college enrichment program aims to “increase the number of historically underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students prepared to enter college and improve their participation rate” in math, science, tech and health fields, according to its website. But while black, Hispanic and Native American students could apply regardless of family wealth, Asian and white schoolkids needed to meet certain income criteria — indicating they are economically challenged — or be excluded. A federal lawsuit filed in January accused New York of engaging in blatant discrimination against Asian and white students under the program. “Progress!” crowed Yiatin Chu — a co-founder of the Asian Wave alliance who tells THE POST her daughter was one of the students discriminated against because of the race-based policy.

Chu said her then-seventh-grade daughter was “able and ready” to apply for admission to the summer 2024 STEP program at New York University but couldn’t “because her race makes her ineligible.

“It was unfair and racist for my daughter to be subjected to a low-income requirement just because she is Asian when her black and Hispanic classmates weren’t,” Chu said yesterday. “I’m glad that my lawsuit instigated revisiting these decades long, race-based standards.”

In 1985, New York lawmakers passed legislation aimed at boosting interest in STEM and healthcare among low-income and underrepresented minority students.

But racial-preference programs — aimed at correcting historic injustices or underrepresentation of blacks and other minorities — have come under the microscope after the US Supreme Court last year struck down college affirmative action programs aimed at boosting minority representation as discriminatory.

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Georgica Green Ventures, one of the largest developers of attainable housing on the East End, is pitching a proposed 40-unit mixed-use affordable rental housing complex on Flanders Road in Riverside. Beth Young reports in EAST END BEACON that the company, which has built several housing developments in Riverhead, Speonk, Southampton and East Hampton, is asking for $2.4 million from Southampton Town’s Community Housing Fund to purchase property at 47 Flanders Road, not far from the traffic circle in downtown Riverside.

This is the first major development proposal in this blighted hamlet since Southampton Town created a sewer district last year for the heart of Riverside, in anticipation of the town’s construction of a $35 million sewage treatment plant designed to make it easier to redevelop the area.

The Southampton Town Board will hold a public hearing on the use of CHF funds for Georgica Green’s project at its Aug. 12 meeting at 1 p.m.

As proposed, the project would include ground floor commercial rental space and a mix of studio, one bedroom and two bedroom apartments that “will be affordable for household incomes between 60% to 100% of the Area Median Income,” according to the public hearing notice, approved at Southampton Town Board’s July 8 meeting.

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Shelter Island Friends of Music invites you to a concert free of charge in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church next Sunday, July 20 at 6pm featuring Sam Reider and the Human Hands, folk, jazz, and traditional music from around the world.

“Led by Latin Grammy-nominated accordionist, pianist, and composer Sam Reider, the Human Hands is a collective of innovative acoustic musicians exploring the crossroads of folk, jazz, and traditional music from around the world.” Sam Reider and the Human Hands will be performing this coming Sunday at 6pm in the Shelter Island Presbyterian Church. Admission free. The Shelter Island Friends of Music (SIFM) was founded in 1977 and incorporated as non-profit in 1979. Their mission is to present world-renowned artists and rising stars to music lovers on Long Island’s East End.

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The Town of Southold will review plans for an 81-room hotel in Mattituck after the developers won an exemption from a moratorium on building new hotels.

Developer D’Wayne Prieto is working with Mattituck developer Alan Cardinale, who owns the 12-acre site, to redevelop the property. The abandoned building, formerly a North Fork then Capital One bank office, would be converted into an 81-room hotel with space for a restaurant, catering hall and employee housing.

The waiver grants relief from the town’s hotel moratorium, allowing for a site plan review to take place. Final approvals must be granted by the town’s planning board.

Tara Smith reports in NEWSDAY that the Southold Town Board voted 6-0 to approve the waiver last Tuesday, citing the property’s commercial zoning and proposed reuse of the existing 77,000-square-foot building. The town imposed several conditions as part of the waiver, including setting the maximum number of rooms at 81 and prohibiting the developers from seeking tax abatements from the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency.

“I commend the board for their decision and wisdom in preserving and increasing the town's tax revenue,” Prieto told Newsday in a text message. “It has been a long five years to reach this point.”

Two Greenport hotels are suing the Town of Southold after their expansion plans were stymied.

The Mattituck hotel proposal was first presented in 2019 as a 121-room resort with a spa and indoor water park, plans were scaled back in response to community opposition and further stalled by the town’s moratorium, which took effect in June 2024. Southold lawmakers recently voted to extend the moratorium another year, buying time to complete a townwide zoning update. The volume of short-term vacation rentals also has factored into the discussion as officials try to strike a balance between promoting tourism and preserving affordable housing.