Thanks to four inept and costly Democrat budgets, New York State's tax problems have gone from bad to worse. The Empire State is now known across the USA as the Tax State, with a tax structure seen as both ridiculous and restrictive.
And it will only get worse, when the awful and expensive budget authored and approved by downstate Democrats goes into effect. New Yorkers will get hit with taxes for beverages, driver's licenses, insurance, investments, cell phones and utilities. Upstate taxpayers can even expect on losing the popular STAR rebate program.
The tax increases are stunning, but even more stunning is the reality that thanks to Democrats, state spending will increase by nearly 10 percent - all during a recession. So not only will New Yorkers pay more during a recession, at a time when they can least afford it, but the state is also increasing their fiscal difficulties by increasing spending at a rate far in excess of inflation.
Big spending has been a hallmark of the Spitzer-Paterson team. This year's budget is the third budget by the Day One duo, and their budgets have increased state spending by a combined total of more than 20 percent. Pretty disappointing given how much the Spitzer-Pate rson Democrats promised.
Remember, this budget calamity is occurring at a time when billions of Obama stimulus funds are being pumped into the state. What happens to the Empire State when the stimulus money disappears?
The budget has sparked a firestorm of criticism against Democrats, especially since the budget was negotiated by three Democrats in a room, in almost total secrecy and with disastrous results. New Yorkers were trashing Democrats on the budget vote. Democratic Boss Shelly Silver was able to count on votes from two Assembly members for the budget, with both Ron Canestrari and Tim Gordon voting YES for the budget. Gordon seems increasingly worried about his ability to win re-election, considering a run for the 20th CD seat and recently sponsoring legislation to reduce the number of signatures needed on candidate designating petitions.
The budget blow-up means more big problems for local Democrats. The state fiscal chaos recently claimed Grafton and Cherry Plains state parks as casualties, joining Schodack Island State Park on the Democratic hit list. What have local Democrats done in response? Democrat Legislator Kevin Harrington, himself an employee of the Assembly Democrats, actually put out press releases claiming county Republicans were saving too much money. If Democrats think it is bad now wait until the tax bills hit.
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