$10 million tax credit for businesses advertising in local media gets Albany rally

Supporters of the  Lift Our Communities, Advertise Locally Act will rally in Albany Tuesday at the Capitol in hopes that Gov. Kathy Hochul will include funding for the bill in this year’s budget. Sponsored by state Sen. Monica Martinez and Assembly Member Jen Lunsford, the LOCAL Act would establish a fund of up to $10 million annual tax credits for small businesses advertising in local media outlets. 

“I’m so excited that this bill will be aimed at helping support the coverage of hyper-local news.  This legislation strengthens the foundation of our local economies. It’s a smart, innovative solution that ensures businesses and residents can thrive together across New York State” Lunsford told City & State.  “We lost a local paper – the Messenger Post – in my first term in office. Now we have no one doing local coverage in my district.  No one publishing weekly op eds, no one covering the issues more closely-associated with our communities. The Messenger Post was a far less expensive way for my local businesses to advertise so that symbiotic relationship is what I’m aiming to recapture.”

The bill’s proponents, led by the Empire State Local News Coalition were to send a letter signed by regional and national business groups and obtained exclusively by City & State before its release to the governor and state leadership urging them to include the LOCAL Act in the final fiscal year 2026 state budget ahead of their action at the Capitol at noon tomorrow. About 20 key New York business groups – including the National Federation of Independent Business, Upstate United and the Queens Chamber of Commerce – will convene to give a lift to the legislation.

 “We believe strong community is tripartite: [a] healthy mainstreet, [an] engaged citizenry [and an] ecosystem of trustworthy news and information. The LOCAL Act benefits all of these pillars because it allows small business to advertise with local media”   Zachary Richner, founder of the Empire State Local News Coalition told City & State in a phone interview. “These are news organizations covering village board meetings and soccer games and who made the honor roll.  We are talking about preserving family-owned businesses who for generations have been providing local news.” 

If passed, the state will issue tax credits of up to 80% of $5 thousand spent annually on advertising at local media outlets by small businesses.  The money will be allocated to up to 2,500 minority, women, veteran or small businesses with a total program cap of $10 million. 

“Its really hard to do business in New York State and getting harder everyday.  This bill is a great shot-in-the-arm because it has a double-win for disadvantaged companies and also the small mom and pop media shops that are getting beat up everyday,” Thomas Grech, president of the Queens Chamber of Commerce told City & State.  “Also the big news outlets aren’t putting the resources into local coverage because they are suffering cuts.”

“This is a great opportunity to allow smaller papers to stay ahead of the game and survive,” Grech added. “This is one of those common sense things that’s also not open-ended, there is a $10m cap on credits each year.” 

The legislation benefits small businesses and local journalism at the same time, Justin Wilcox, executive director of Upstate United, an organization made up of trade associations that advocates for upstate taxpayers and businesses. 

“This bill allows small businesses a savings when they advertise locally and allows local journalists to continue covering upstate communities and we need them because they are only ones who understand local issues,” he said. “As small outlets disappear they are not replaced and residents upstate need a voice.”

The bill affords $6 million to be allocated to minority, women and veteran-owned businesses and $4 million to small businesses. Purely digital media outlets posting local news at least weekly for the year prior to application with revenues exceeding $100,000 who also carry media liability policies are eligible. If the media outlet publishes digitally and also has an analog version of its output, the $100,000 minimum revenue requirement is not a prerequisite for application. Media outlets who receive more than $100,000 in revenue from 501C4 organizations are not eligible to participate. However, individuals who are partners in an “S Corp” that spends advertising dollars approved by the program can take their proportionate tax credit on their personal IRS filings. 

“On Long Island, the majority of businesses are small. Eighty percent have fewer than 10 employees. Small business are the lifeblood of our community and are integral to prosperity of the entire region,” Matt Cohen, president and CEO of the Long Island Association told City & State. “This bill, sponsored by Monica Martinez, one of our local senators, is so important because small businesses don’t have the capital to advertise and don’t have staff to promote on social media and raise visibility of their businesses. This legislation will raise visibility and that’s a win-win.  It will also help our mom and pop businesses reach their target audiences and our local journalists stay in business.”

Long Island is home to Schneps Media and the Herald Newspapers, and its business leaders and politicians are rallying behind this bill.  "Communities are built on connections with neighbors, and the same is true for small businesses. The LOCAL Act supports this relationship by encouraging these community-based businesses to advertise with the media outlets already trusted by the neighbors they are committed to serving” Senator Monica Martinez shared with City & State via a written statement.  “This incentive helps small businesses grow while preserving the local journalism New Yorkers rely on."