N.Y. Budget Deal Cuts Aid to Schools and Health Care
Phil Mansfield for The New York Times
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, center, and legislative leaders announced a budget accord on Sunday, beating a deadline of March 31.
By NICHOLAS CONFESSORE and THOMAS KAPLAN
Published: March 27, 2011
Capping weeks of secretive negotiations and intense political jockeying, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and leaders of the Legislature on Sunday announced a $132.5 billion budget agreement that would cut overall spending, impose no major new taxes and begin a long-term overhaul of New York State’s bloated Medicaid programs.
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The agreement, five days before the March 31 budget deadline, offered the prospect of Albany’s first on-time budget in five years. If enacted by lawmakers, the deal would cut the state’s overall year-to-year spending for the first time in more than a decade.
While some details were not available on Sunday night, the outlines of the deal suggested that Mr. Cuomo had won a significant victory in his battle to rein in state spending and corral the unions and other special interests that have long dominated the budget process in Albany. It would also fulfill one of Mr. Cuomo’s main campaign pledges: to avoid new taxes in addressing the state’s financial problems.
Dashing the hopes of many Democratic lawmakers, including the bulk of the New York City delegation, the budget did not include an extension of a temporary income tax surcharge on wealthy New Yorkers, a measure that has drawn support among Democrats and even some Senate Republicans as a way to further offset Mr. Cuomo’s proposed cuts in money for schools and other programs.
Mr. Cuomo persuaded legislative leaders to agree to a year-to-year cut of more than $2 billion in spending on health care and education, historically the two largest drivers of New York’s budget. Over all, officials said, the budget deal would reduce year-to-year spending by about 2 percent.
For both Medicaid and education, the deal calls for a two-year appropriation instead of the traditional one year’s worth of financing, locking in fixed rates of growth through Mr. Cuomo’s second year in office and potentially allowing him to avoid a repeat of the battles he fought this year with teachers’ unions and other special interests.
In exchange, Mr. Cuomo agreed to add $250 million — a modest amount by Albany standards — to his executive budget proposal, including more money for schools, the blind and the deaf, human services, higher education, and prescription drugs for the elderly.
Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders said they hoped the agreement would signal a new day of responsible budgeting and effective government in a Capitol long criticized for its gridlock and dysfunction.
“This budget brings the power back to the people,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat elected last fall, said at a news conference at the Capitol, where he was joined by both parties’ leaders in the Senate and the Assembly. “For them to see their government functioning this way, it’s a new day in New York. We set out to build a new New York, and this is the first step down that road.”
Mr. Cuomo succeeded in part by aggressively wielding a tool pioneered by his much-maligned predecessor, Gov. David A. Paterson: He threatened that if lawmakers missed the budget deadline, he would put his preferred cuts into an emergency spending measure, forcing them to vote for his budget or risk shutting down state government. That pressure helped drive lawmakers to the table in recent days, because refusing a deal with Mr. Cuomo would have meant giving up what scant restorations the Legislature had been able to wring from him.
Seeking to avoid the blistering attack ads from labor unions and hospitals that have pummeled past governors and weakened their hand with the Legislature, Mr. Cuomo also persuaded the state’s most powerful health care interests to draft a side deal with him that gave Mr. Cuomo the broad cuts he needed in exchange for concessions that would not directly affect the budget, like a “living wage” law for home care workers.
But Mr. Cuomo also made some concessions. He agreed to abandon a cap on “pain and suffering” damages for victims of medical malpractice, a controversial measure avidly sought by the hospital industry in exchange for its support of the health care cuts but strongly opposed by Assembly Democrats. A related proposal, to establish a state fund to pay for the future medical expenses of brain-damaged infants, survived the negotiations, drawing praise from hospital executives.
Advocates for increased school aid were livid over the deal, suggesting that Mr. Cuomo’s cuts — and his refusal to consider a “millionaires’ tax” to offset those cuts — would hurt students. “Governor Cuomo’s first budget makes heartlessly large cuts to our schools to finance tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, and students in poor and middle-class districts will lose the most educationally,” Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, said.
The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said he would fight to renew the income tax surcharge through a separate piece of legislation. “We still hope to convince our partners it’s the right thing to do,” Mr. Silver said.
The budget also did not include an extension of state rent regulations, which are set to expire in June, another issue that many Democratic lawmakers from New York City had supported.
Some details of the agreement remained unclear on Sunday. A district-by-district breakdown of school aid, with details that could trouble many rank-and-file lawmakers, would not be available until Monday, officials said. The deal also includes a cut of 3,700 prison beds but does not specify which prisons might close in the coming months.
“This budget agreement keeps our Senate Republican commitment to reduce spending, cut taxes and empower the private sector to create jobs,” said Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who is the Senate majority leader.
Legislative leaders also agreed to adopt Mr. Cuomo’s proposal to cut 10 percent from state agencies’ budgets, including $450 million in unspecified work-force savings, which are likely to lead to layoffs. No precise number was available.
“It sounds as if the budget has been settled generally on the governor’s terms, without significant new taxes,” said Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research group that favors reduced government spending. “That’s a real accomplishment. But with so many important details unsettled, he’ll have his work cut out for him in the coming months.”
The announcement Sunday came as Democrats, teachers’ unions and other groups mounted a last-ditch effort to force reconsideration of the income tax surcharge and rent regulation. While lawmakers in both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled Assembly typically vote for budget deals that their leadership helped design, some Democrats have in recent days openly discussed voting against a budget that was too austere.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” said State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat. “I have not seen any of the paperwork that’s come out yet, so there’s a lot to make an evaluation of.”
While some details were not available on Sunday night, the outlines of the deal suggested that Mr. Cuomo had won a significant victory in his battle to rein in state spending and corral the unions and other special interests that have long dominated the budget process in Albany. It would also fulfill one of Mr. Cuomo’s main campaign pledges: to avoid new taxes in addressing the state’s financial problems.
Dashing the hopes of many Democratic lawmakers, including the bulk of the New York City delegation, the budget did not include an extension of a temporary income tax surcharge on wealthy New Yorkers, a measure that has drawn support among Democrats and even some Senate Republicans as a way to further offset Mr. Cuomo’s proposed cuts in money for schools and other programs.
Mr. Cuomo persuaded legislative leaders to agree to a year-to-year cut of more than $2 billion in spending on health care and education, historically the two largest drivers of New York’s budget. Over all, officials said, the budget deal would reduce year-to-year spending by about 2 percent.
For both Medicaid and education, the deal calls for a two-year appropriation instead of the traditional one year’s worth of financing, locking in fixed rates of growth through Mr. Cuomo’s second year in office and potentially allowing him to avoid a repeat of the battles he fought this year with teachers’ unions and other special interests.
In exchange, Mr. Cuomo agreed to add $250 million — a modest amount by Albany standards — to his executive budget proposal, including more money for schools, the blind and the deaf, human services, higher education, and prescription drugs for the elderly.
Mr. Cuomo and the legislative leaders said they hoped the agreement would signal a new day of responsible budgeting and effective government in a Capitol long criticized for its gridlock and dysfunction.
“This budget brings the power back to the people,” Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat elected last fall, said at a news conference at the Capitol, where he was joined by both parties’ leaders in the Senate and the Assembly. “For them to see their government functioning this way, it’s a new day in New York. We set out to build a new New York, and this is the first step down that road.”
Mr. Cuomo succeeded in part by aggressively wielding a tool pioneered by his much-maligned predecessor, Gov. David A. Paterson: He threatened that if lawmakers missed the budget deadline, he would put his preferred cuts into an emergency spending measure, forcing them to vote for his budget or risk shutting down state government. That pressure helped drive lawmakers to the table in recent days, because refusing a deal with Mr. Cuomo would have meant giving up what scant restorations the Legislature had been able to wring from him.
Seeking to avoid the blistering attack ads from labor unions and hospitals that have pummeled past governors and weakened their hand with the Legislature, Mr. Cuomo also persuaded the state’s most powerful health care interests to draft a side deal with him that gave Mr. Cuomo the broad cuts he needed in exchange for concessions that would not directly affect the budget, like a “living wage” law for home care workers.
But Mr. Cuomo also made some concessions. He agreed to abandon a cap on “pain and suffering” damages for victims of medical malpractice, a controversial measure avidly sought by the hospital industry in exchange for its support of the health care cuts but strongly opposed by Assembly Democrats. A related proposal, to establish a state fund to pay for the future medical expenses of brain-damaged infants, survived the negotiations, drawing praise from hospital executives.
Advocates for increased school aid were livid over the deal, suggesting that Mr. Cuomo’s cuts — and his refusal to consider a “millionaires’ tax” to offset those cuts — would hurt students. “Governor Cuomo’s first budget makes heartlessly large cuts to our schools to finance tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, and students in poor and middle-class districts will lose the most educationally,” Billy Easton, executive director of the Alliance for Quality Education, said.
The Assembly speaker, Sheldon Silver, a Manhattan Democrat, said he would fight to renew the income tax surcharge through a separate piece of legislation. “We still hope to convince our partners it’s the right thing to do,” Mr. Silver said.
The budget also did not include an extension of state rent regulations, which are set to expire in June, another issue that many Democratic lawmakers from New York City had supported.
Some details of the agreement remained unclear on Sunday. A district-by-district breakdown of school aid, with details that could trouble many rank-and-file lawmakers, would not be available until Monday, officials said. The deal also includes a cut of 3,700 prison beds but does not specify which prisons might close in the coming months.
“This budget agreement keeps our Senate Republican commitment to reduce spending, cut taxes and empower the private sector to create jobs,” said Dean G. Skelos, a Long Island Republican who is the Senate majority leader.
Legislative leaders also agreed to adopt Mr. Cuomo’s proposal to cut 10 percent from state agencies’ budgets, including $450 million in unspecified work-force savings, which are likely to lead to layoffs. No precise number was available.
“It sounds as if the budget has been settled generally on the governor’s terms, without significant new taxes,” said Edmund J. McMahon, director of the Empire Center for New York State Policy, a research group that favors reduced government spending. “That’s a real accomplishment. But with so many important details unsettled, he’ll have his work cut out for him in the coming months.”
The announcement Sunday came as Democrats, teachers’ unions and other groups mounted a last-ditch effort to force reconsideration of the income tax surcharge and rent regulation. While lawmakers in both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled Assembly typically vote for budget deals that their leadership helped design, some Democrats have in recent days openly discussed voting against a budget that was too austere.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do yet,” said State Senator Liz Krueger, a Manhattan Democrat. “I have not seen any of the paperwork that’s come out yet, so there’s a lot to make an evaluation of.”
A version of this article appeared in print on March 28, 2011, on page A1 of the New York edition.
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1.
Noo Yawka
NewYork, NY
March 27th, 2011
6:49 pm
Health Care and Education cuts? Did our new Governor take Republican lessons or something???
Recommend Recommended by 222 Readers
The idea that the government has to tighten its belt the same way that working people have to tighten theirs is a fallacy and an insult to our intelligence. They are two different things altogether. If working people have to tighten their belts, government belt-tightening will mean that working people will have to punch new holes in their belts where there were none before. The government is what can limit working people's pain. Not to extend the personal income tax surcharge on the very wealthy and not to guarantee an extension of the rent laws just means that Cuomo is playing a Republican tune. Let's hope our Democratic lawmakers buck their leaders for a change and demands something better for the rest of us.
Recommend Recommended by 325 Readers
3.
Ron
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
6:52 pm
Congratulations on no new taxes. We want our rich producers to stay in New York and create jobs here, not in Texas.
New York State contains the capital of the world, incredible educational instiutions, and the beauty of upstate New York. People are not leaving because of the weather. They are leaving for one reason and one reason only - the incredible tax burden.
New York State contains the capital of the world, incredible educational instiutions, and the beauty of upstate New York. People are not leaving because of the weather. They are leaving for one reason and one reason only - the incredible tax burden.
Recommend Recommended by 79 Readers
4.
Michael
NY
March 27th, 2011
6:53 pm
Hmm at first glance.. cut stuff that takes care of people and supports our society, while at the same time cutting taxes on the wealthy. brilliant! So the rich get richer and the poor and middle class get the shaft. great job, Cuomo.
Recommend Recommended by 409 Readers
5.
Peter
Brooklyn
March 27th, 2011
6:53 pm
Congratulations, Mr. Cuomo. By failing to extend the millionaire tax while simultaneously slashing critical social programs you've become a Republican. Shame on you.
Recommend Recommended by 442 Readers
Great news - now perhaps we can rein in the bloated bureaucracies and sacred cows in State government that have gone unchecked for a generation. The big winner: tax payers of the State of New York.
Recommend Recommended by 56 Readers
7.
Ordinary American
NJ
March 27th, 2011
6:55 pm
This is ridiculous. High earners created the mess. The banking industry literally pulled this country into fiscal ruin. Why are high earners now being spared the pain of cleaning up the mess? What kind of nation are we when a democratic governor in a democratic state can't even demand that those at the top share the pain?
We have no political parties. All we have is an oligarchy that doles out endless privilege for the upper classes and endless pain for everyone else. I am ashamed to be an American when I read of terrible plans.
We have no political parties. All we have is an oligarchy that doles out endless privilege for the upper classes and endless pain for everyone else. I am ashamed to be an American when I read of terrible plans.
Recommend Recommended by 560 Readers
8.
student1776
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
I am amazed that Cuomo is acting rationally and responsibility. Perhaps it is a hopeful sign that even some Democrats can address reality. Or perhaps there is a trick to it that will surface later. It will be so interesting to see. If he is addressing reality he positions himself as a potential Obama replacement candidate.
Recommend Recommended by 35 Readers
9.
Pouzar
Edmonton, Alta.
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
So the tax surcharge on the wealthy will be cut and the education budget will be wildly slashed making a mockery of any fantasies about equal opportunity for the American underclass, as if they were not disadvantaged enough already. Shame on you Mr. Cuomo and shame on you America.
Recommend Recommended by 228 Readers
10.
Pat
NY
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
So the objective here is to allow people's health to whither and ensure that our kids get a lousy education. Well, at least the State's corporations and its millionaire's can smile; they're the only ones who can afford it. And Andrew, just switch to the Republican party and be done with it.
Recommend Recommended by 209 Readers
11.
MaryV
Midwest
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
@john k
I'd completely agree with extending the surcharge. But to say government need not "tighten its belt" and can borrow more and more forever -- well, I disagree strongly. I'd rather not have our states or federal government end up as bad off as Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain
I'd completely agree with extending the surcharge. But to say government need not "tighten its belt" and can borrow more and more forever -- well, I disagree strongly. I'd rather not have our states or federal government end up as bad off as Portugal, Ireland, Italy and Spain
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
12.
Davide
San Francisco
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
What will it take to start to make the wealthy share their burden? Ok, maybe 200,000/year is too low a threshold in a state like NY, then rise the threshold to 500,000 and quintuple the State tax for incomes above that level. It is amazing: the poor lost any representation years ago, and now it is the middle class that has no representatives in government!
Recommend Recommended by 184 Readers
13.
Bob
New York State
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
So all those political “contributions” (i.e. bribes) paid off: low – low – low tax rates for the wealthy. I guess some folks do get what they pay for.
Recommend Recommended by 166 Readers
14.
J. Galt
NY, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
I knew it. I just knew it. Sucker the doctors in with a tort reform promise and then trade it. The lawyers always win.
Good luck finding an obstetrician.
Good luck finding an obstetrician.
Recommend Recommended by 58 Readers
A "year-to-year cut of more than $2 billion in spending on health care and education" is a "significant victory"? For whom?
Recommend Recommended by 152 Readers
I just checked the 2009-2010 budget and it was 132 Billion, and the new budget is half a billion higher, so where are the big cuts?
Recommend Recommended by 29 Readers
17.
Jay
PA
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Heath care and education get cuts. The rich get a break! I thought Mr. Cuomo was a Democrat. What does it take to get the message through to the politicians that this is just morally wrong, economically wrong and socially wrong? This is just proof that the ruling class has no idea of the impact of misguided fiscal policy on the disadvantaged. Nor do they care. It's time to vote all of these men and women out of office. Mr. Cuomo , please, resign and give the reigns to real, progressive Democrat. The middle class needs a New Deal.
Recommend Recommended by 210 Readers
18.
ShowMe
Missouri
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Shame on Cuomo and the Democrats. Their actions are a testimony to the worship of Mammon.
Recommend Recommended by 95 Readers
19.
E. Vincent
Staten Island, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
This is very sad and very disturbing. I am a registered Democrat, and I voted for Mr. Cuomo, but it seems that now when we vote our only choice is between a right-leaning centrist (Democrat) and a radical right-wing extremist (Republican). Governor Cuomo should be ashamed to be so obviously stealing from the poor and middle class to give to the rich.
Recommend Recommended by 237 Readers
20.
anna
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Can someone die from revulsion?
Recommend Recommended by 150 Readers
21.
Sanders-for-president
Vermont
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Cuomo must believe that there are too many people in the world and educating people is a waste since there are not enough jobs for everyone.
Recommend Recommended by 67 Readers
break for the rich, take it out on education and health care. yeah, this makes sense. real preparation for the rest of the 21st century. the democratic party is crashing and burning.
Recommend Recommended by 135 Readers
23.
Marthe Reed
Lafayette, LA
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Outrageous! Protect high earners and slash education and healthcare? This is a madness, nothing but a monstrous cannibalism in which the most vulnerable are consumed by the most privileged. "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson. But perhaps that is the rather cynical point of this proposed policy -- to deny education in order better to control and oppress. Cynical and sick.
Recommend Recommended by 160 Readers
24.
D. Solomon
Queens, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Working families shouldn't have to "tighten their belts" while Wall Street fat cats--the same financiers who caused the crisis--luxuriate in their lavish homes and take home even more money and bonuses. Trickle down economics is voodoo economics, it doesn't work, it isn't right, and it's a reverse Robin Hood scheme that disadvantages the downtrodden, the decrepit, the disabled, and the diseased to the aid of the privileged. Cuomo and his cohorts should be ashamed to call themselves Democrats, they have brought profound shame on that great party's name. Their views align not with those of FDR, or LBJ, or Wilson, or the titans of progressivism's past, but with the Morgans, Hoovers, and Rockefellers, the economic royalists that Roosevelt so stingingly denounced. Shame on you!
Recommend Recommended by 197 Readers
25.
Erin
Westfield, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Tax the crooks on Wall St.
Recommend Recommended by 183 Readers
Andrew Ocean
Jacksonville, FL
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
New York is broke. The gimmie people don't give back and the taxpayers are tired of getting mugged. The NY government is doing the right thing. Generational change is needed. Best to start now.
Recommend Recommended by 28 Readers
Looks like a nice Republican budget, kind of like what the Obama administration would submit on the federal level. It might be time to abandon the Democratic Party, because any Joe in the street can see it is the party of fraud.
Recommend Recommended by 83 Readers
28.
Nafi
Queens
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
I'm ashamed of this. I thought democrats were supposed to favor the middle class and the poor, not the rich.
Recommend Recommended by 82 Readers
29.
anna
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
OK, people. It's time to start to fight for democracy right here, right now.
Recommend Recommended by 103 Readers
30.
OpposedToPCStupidity
NYC
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Great! Now all the know-nothing, liberal sheeple can trot out their tired, simplistic, and ignorant whines. A Millionaire's Tax is a simplistic, useless solution - why, because millionaires have the wherewithal to up and move to another state - which they do. It is better to have a small percentage of a million dollars than a larger percentage of zero. What don't you people understand? As for rent control - it is the reason for the sky-high real estate prices in the NY metropolitan area. NYC is the only city in the US that still has these antiquated laws which were created to help GIs returning from WWII find housing and it is these laws that are the disincentive to build new housing units except for luxury properties - this is why NY loses housing stock year after year and why everyone pays more for housing. I hate to spoil your whinefest, but those are the facts.
Recommend Recommended by 24 Readers
31.
Bemused
Manhattan
March 27th, 2011
8:12 pm
Shame on Cuomo and shame on the Democrats in the Assembly for caving. The poor and middle class will pay a terrible price for this deal as poor school districts and state universities take it on the chin and medical care goes down the tubes, but the rich pocket more and more. How can I teach my son that crime doesn't pay? Clearly it does--so long as the pen and computer are the instruments of theft. As for the comment above that this means the rich will be creating jobs in NY: No, they will continue to create jobs in China, Sri Lanka, and Cambodia. The only jobs this bill will save are those of the politicians who work directly for Wall Street.
Recommend Recommended by 111 Readers
Cuomo has bitten the Republican apple and found it good. Nowhere in the budget do I see any understanding of the incredible disparity in educational diversity and quality in this state, so well described by today's Times editorial. Nowhere do I see creative ways of financing the state. We still have a five cent deposit on bottles; raise it to 50 cents on liter bottles, 25 cents on anything less. Those who don't return their containers will be paying a voluntary laziness tax. We can follow the court order saying the state has to finance an adequate education; and we can simultaneously increase the aid to rural schools, which have next to no electives in high school. Why not build distance learning facilities in those schools? It would solve the problem of educational opportunity in one year, without hiring additional teachers.
This is a budget that stinks of Reaganomics, not of new thinking. And NOT of a Democrat.
This is a budget that stinks of Reaganomics, not of new thinking. And NOT of a Democrat.
Recommend Recommended by 87 Readers
33.
pscully17
cumberland, maine
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
the goal is to NOT cut services, but to reduce the number of Government employees/depts and regulatory agencies that we have to fiorst pay out of our tax dollars at detriment of the needed services/welfare of the citizens. the Public Union power and money grab at the expense of tax payers services/roads/social services is over!! as a Government employee, WE the PEOPLE only have a limited available amount of moeny that you can confiscate. Expanding Government payrolls and benefit guarantees has crashed the system.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
This what one might expect from a doctrinaire Republican (is there any other kind?). I thought Mr Cuomo was a Democrat but I forgot that the USA has one-party government with two factions, both of them owned by Wall Street and the military industrial complex that has expanded as President Eisenhower feared it would.
The USA ranks near the bottom of the world in math and science, this is not the time to cut education budgets.
The USA is the only developed nation with a huge number of people in the middle class and an even larger number in the underclass who have no adequate medical care, this is not the time to cut healthcare budgets.
New Yorkers will regret electing Cuomo, the faux Democrat. But he is only a symptom, as well as a cause, of America's decline into a fascist "wealthy banana republic". Fascism is the definition of the triumph of the corporate state. Perhaps it will be the universal next step after democracy and perhaps the USA is only leading the way.
The USA ranks near the bottom of the world in math and science, this is not the time to cut education budgets.
The USA is the only developed nation with a huge number of people in the middle class and an even larger number in the underclass who have no adequate medical care, this is not the time to cut healthcare budgets.
New Yorkers will regret electing Cuomo, the faux Democrat. But he is only a symptom, as well as a cause, of America's decline into a fascist "wealthy banana republic". Fascism is the definition of the triumph of the corporate state. Perhaps it will be the universal next step after democracy and perhaps the USA is only leading the way.
Recommend Recommended by 59 Readers
35.
Mark Haag
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
The rich are leaving New York? Hmmm. A quick check of the real estate market would seem to indicate otherwise. Manhattan's luxury properties aren't exactly going for pennies on the dollar.
Recommend Recommended by 71 Readers
36.
N Yorker
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Could we just make it official and restrict citizenship to those earning more than $250,000 per year?
Recommend Recommended by 74 Readers
37.
anna
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
"What kind of nation are we when a democratic governor in a democratic state can't even demand that those at the top share the pain?"#7
Sorry to inform you, but it's even more tragic. Our "democratic" governor doesn't want to share and doesn't want his friends to share.
Sorry to inform you, but it's even more tragic. Our "democratic" governor doesn't want to share and doesn't want his friends to share.
Recommend Recommended by 36 Readers
So does this mean children will continue to be needlessly remanded into foster care and men will be needlessly arrested for domestic violence?
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
39.
I can't remember a time when both parties were so completely in the pockets of the wealthy and so willing to do their bidding. Since when is our priority as a state, as a nation, to make sure the rich get richer at the expense of the middle class and poor. Obama caved in to the Republicans on a $700 billion dollar Welfare for the Wealthy program. Now Cuomo going to cut health care and education funding so he doesn't have to ask the extremelt rich to do their part. Frankly, the Democrats are more disappointing than their counterparts.
Recommend Recommended by 102 Readers
40.
peter
nether
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Income comes from income tax, sales tax and property tax predominantly
Population is static, housing still a problem and not very inviting to tourists, not to mention in the heydays/years governments of states borrowed heavy on retirement funds which were fine if they had they left them alone
So now a scramble for the money with the usual outcome; where can we the quickest 'return', bit blassee and total lack of creavity and intelligence
Population is static, housing still a problem and not very inviting to tourists, not to mention in the heydays/years governments of states borrowed heavy on retirement funds which were fine if they had they left them alone
So now a scramble for the money with the usual outcome; where can we the quickest 'return', bit blassee and total lack of creavity and intelligence
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
41.
J. McGloin
Staten Island, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Right Now US businesses are sitting on $2 trillion in cash and not investing any of it, because they don't see any demand. Supply Side economics says they should be using that money to create jobs, but the economy isn't driven by supply it's driven by the demand of the middle class.
As long as states keep laying off workers, the economy will continue to stagnate. Ron says 'we want our rich producers to stay in New York and create jobs here, not in Texas.' This sounds good but plays into the hands of the mega rich who are creating a worldwide race to the bottom. They want every government to cut taxes, services and regulations, so that they collect all wealth into their hands.
The US government has been cutting taxes, regulations and services since 1980, and it resulted in the worst recession since WWII.
The most competitve countries in the world are not falling for this, but the US is being sold to transnational corporations for chump change.
Is the US middle class supposed to work for $5 dollars a day to compete with third world workers, or do we need another model?
As long as states keep laying off workers, the economy will continue to stagnate. Ron says 'we want our rich producers to stay in New York and create jobs here, not in Texas.' This sounds good but plays into the hands of the mega rich who are creating a worldwide race to the bottom. They want every government to cut taxes, services and regulations, so that they collect all wealth into their hands.
The US government has been cutting taxes, regulations and services since 1980, and it resulted in the worst recession since WWII.
The most competitve countries in the world are not falling for this, but the US is being sold to transnational corporations for chump change.
Is the US middle class supposed to work for $5 dollars a day to compete with third world workers, or do we need another model?
Recommend Recommended by 65 Readers
42.
Diane
Chicago
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Keep voting those Dems. At least the Republicans are transparent.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
43.
Mike Stevenson
Beaufort, SC
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
"At least the war on the middle class is going well"
Recommend Recommended by 76 Readers
These spending cuts will be felt for decades, currently with reduced benefits for the citizens and in the future with below average education. You can look at the scores NOW and see the US slipping backwards. Yes, money is NOT everything but it sure helps when it comes to education and bringing the best instructors and teachers to the profession.
The wealthy should be glad to pony up since Barry has kept the long term capital gains tax at the federal level at 15% of the nest two years.
A combination of strategic cuts AS WELL AS tax increases are needed to balance the budget. Not just in NY but everywhere in this country.
The wealthy should be glad to pony up since Barry has kept the long term capital gains tax at the federal level at 15% of the nest two years.
A combination of strategic cuts AS WELL AS tax increases are needed to balance the budget. Not just in NY but everywhere in this country.
Recommend Recommended by 20 Readers
45.
thewolf
NYC
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
They agree to let expire a surcharge (note, it's not like they vetoed the already highest taxes in the country) on families earning 200K and predictably NYT readers view it as a tax cut for the rich and want to equate bailed out banksters with NY professionals like doctors, lawyers, CPAs and small business owners that bear no blame for the financial sector chicanery, but hey, let's blame and tax them anyway.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
46.
stearm74
vienna, austria
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
The more unequal becomes our society the better.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
47.
megger4
Hamburg, NY
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
We need to start talking about how much money these millionaires have. These people have yachts in Florida, anyone of which is worth more than all the houses within 10 blocks of my house combined. People defend removing the tax surcharge because they think that someday they'll "get there". That's not going to happen, the very rich are so far out of sight you'll never "get there". We are in class warfare whether you want to believe it or not and the truly rich are winning, hands down.
Recommend Recommended by 64 Readers
48.
Byron
Oregon
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
The fired teachers can perhaps get jobs in Texas? Oh wait Texas has a very similar budget. Perhaps the fired New Yorkers and Texans can form a conglomerate that will create the green energy of tomorrow as envisioned by Obama? In any case, being an unemployed bum required very little electricity and fossil fuel. Let the wealthy keep their private jets and massive mansions while they promote green energy, er, bum energy.
Recommend Recommended by 19 Readers
49.
wozzek
Santa Monica
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
The Americans have became a boiled frogs nation, dizzy in their stupor and nothing can awake them from the slavery they deserve so much. This country can go on murderous binges all over the world, either killing by its military or by starving entire nations so the Financial Crime Cartel can make a billion over a trillion but that's fine with the boiled frogs nation.
TSA can molest their children, prodding their genitals on airports, but that's fine, we ought to feel safe. Nothing, absolutely nothing can tock dead souls of the nation that had been blessed for so long, never ever asking, what my nation is doing to other nations if we're doing do well?
Well, a few more wars, a couple of more millions killed in some distant land that cannot touch but terrifies us, a gazillion stolen from every man, woman and child in this land - out of top 1% we all have to serve - and this big experiment would die, I am afraid, killing billions in its insane rage, because what is going on in this country is nothing less than a pure madness. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
TSA can molest their children, prodding their genitals on airports, but that's fine, we ought to feel safe. Nothing, absolutely nothing can tock dead souls of the nation that had been blessed for so long, never ever asking, what my nation is doing to other nations if we're doing do well?
Well, a few more wars, a couple of more millions killed in some distant land that cannot touch but terrifies us, a gazillion stolen from every man, woman and child in this land - out of top 1% we all have to serve - and this big experiment would die, I am afraid, killing billions in its insane rage, because what is going on in this country is nothing less than a pure madness. The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
Recommend Recommended by 47 Readers
50.
sharon57
New York
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Why don't we just shut down all the hospitals in NY State and call it a day already.
Recommend Recommended by 55 Readers
52.
LBS
Margaretville
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
I am in shock.
Cuomo's poll numbers might be high now. However,once people start losing jobs and services --
Well,what am I talking about? The one's most hurt by this budget are only poor people, upstaters, and the poor of NYC after all -- what does Cuomo care about them? What does he have to worry about from them?
I mean, the upstate poor will just join tea parties and silently suffer. The ones in NYC no one cares bout anyway.
That means that Cuomo will get reelected and look good. New York's own Ronald Reagan.
And all that matters to Cuomo II is Cuomo II.
(Mario Cuomo would never have stood for this.)
I want to do something, but what?
Bumper sticker:
Cuomo HEART Cuomo. (It's true -- and it's what he's about.)
A birther movement?
(This Cuomo could not possibly be the son of Mario.)
Or just organizing. Counting. Count every job and service lost and hold this man accountable.
People will suffer because of this.
My only hope is that New York Democrats should do what Wisconsin Demoncrats did -- leave the State. We have a governor that out-Palladinos Palladino.
Please, Silver, don't let him do this. Please stop it.
Cuomo's poll numbers might be high now. However,once people start losing jobs and services --
Well,what am I talking about? The one's most hurt by this budget are only poor people, upstaters, and the poor of NYC after all -- what does Cuomo care about them? What does he have to worry about from them?
I mean, the upstate poor will just join tea parties and silently suffer. The ones in NYC no one cares bout anyway.
That means that Cuomo will get reelected and look good. New York's own Ronald Reagan.
And all that matters to Cuomo II is Cuomo II.
(Mario Cuomo would never have stood for this.)
I want to do something, but what?
Bumper sticker:
Cuomo HEART Cuomo. (It's true -- and it's what he's about.)
A birther movement?
(This Cuomo could not possibly be the son of Mario.)
Or just organizing. Counting. Count every job and service lost and hold this man accountable.
People will suffer because of this.
My only hope is that New York Democrats should do what Wisconsin Demoncrats did -- leave the State. We have a governor that out-Palladinos Palladino.
Please, Silver, don't let him do this. Please stop it.
Recommend Recommended by 32 Readers
53.
David A. Stevenson
Bethel, Connecticut
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
It feels good to live in Connecticut ! Sorry, New York !
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
55.
learned hand
nyc
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
Time for Democrats to pay for themselves...
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
56.
jim
brooklyn
March 27th, 2011
8:43 pm
More of the same from a Republican Lite. I expect the Democrats to start running Tea Party candidates soon.
Recommend Recommended by 32 Readers
57.
The high earners should pay more :I AGREE with the previous post.
If this process continues we are going to have a class war here in this country.we are not far behind what's happening in the middle east.
If this process continues we are going to have a class war here in this country.we are not far behind what's happening in the middle east.
Recommend Recommended by 28 Readers
Only Nixon could go to China; only a Democrat could control NY's budget.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
59.
Dave
Buffalo, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Wow, the beginning of the end for the Empire State. Cuomo, the Republican, has officially been bought-out by Wall Street greed and the power of money has won again. Unbelievable.
Recommend Recommended by 47 Readers
60.
Nick Lento
Cliffside Park, NJ
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Governor Cuomo, you are not going to be re-elected by trying to become Chris Christie lite. If people want a Republican, there will be a real one running against you...and compromising Democratic principles simply makes it more difficult for the base to hold their noses and to vote for "the lesser of the two evils".
Rejecting the tiny tax increase on people who take in in excess of a million dollars a year in income while cutting back on health-care and housing for the poorest amongst us is penny wise and pound foolish.....and cruel.
It's *cheaper to give the poor decent quality health care so that they will stay *out* of hospitals and ERs where the eventual expense becomes outrageously more costly than prevention and catching the disease process early. Unless the plan is to simply let the poor die...it's more economical and more humane to give them decent health care from the start.
Also cutting back on education in today's world is insane. Your calls upon the poor and middle classes (unionized government workers among them) to make sacrifices while allowing the richest amongst us to get away with no additional burdens is a political policy that I would expect from a Republican pol, not a Cuomo! I, and I dare say many other Democrats, are disappointed in you. I pray you find your conscience of take a few steps back to your Democratic roots soon.
Rejecting the tiny tax increase on people who take in in excess of a million dollars a year in income while cutting back on health-care and housing for the poorest amongst us is penny wise and pound foolish.....and cruel.
It's *cheaper to give the poor decent quality health care so that they will stay *out* of hospitals and ERs where the eventual expense becomes outrageously more costly than prevention and catching the disease process early. Unless the plan is to simply let the poor die...it's more economical and more humane to give them decent health care from the start.
Also cutting back on education in today's world is insane. Your calls upon the poor and middle classes (unionized government workers among them) to make sacrifices while allowing the richest amongst us to get away with no additional burdens is a political policy that I would expect from a Republican pol, not a Cuomo! I, and I dare say many other Democrats, are disappointed in you. I pray you find your conscience of take a few steps back to your Democratic roots soon.
Recommend Recommended by 32 Readers
61.
JD
Pottwtown, Pa
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
He is doing what needs to be done.
The Dems destroyed NY ,,, so now they should fix it !
It is a bad day MSNBC....but a good day for the state.
The Dems destroyed NY ,,, so now they should fix it !
It is a bad day MSNBC....but a good day for the state.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
62.
Eric Toth
Minneapolis
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Big tax breaks again for the groups who have the lowest taxation rate in American history, and recent news shows most corporations pay ZERO taxes. But then all the sacrifice has to be absorbed by the middle and working class.
If nobody noticed, it was the extremely wealthy investors and Wall Street thieves who caused our mess in the 1st place. Not only are we the recipients of the worst brunt of the collapse, be we are expected to make the sacrifice for repairs of mistakes someone else made while they are being rewarded.
Revolution anyone?
If nobody noticed, it was the extremely wealthy investors and Wall Street thieves who caused our mess in the 1st place. Not only are we the recipients of the worst brunt of the collapse, be we are expected to make the sacrifice for repairs of mistakes someone else made while they are being rewarded.
Revolution anyone?
Recommend Recommended by 55 Readers
63.
Moved away from NY due to costs
virginia
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Does anyone wonder why people have moved away fom NY for years? Do the Democrats not understand that someone is paying for this, that its not just miraculous money printed at the whims of government? Government doesnt limit working peoples pain, but by not being responsible with its resources makes it a joke. The government should be tightening its belt and stopping this ridiculousness. If we all just looked to government to solve all our problems , a sorry America that would be.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
64.
X-Man
NY, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
This is exactly what New York needs. While there were some things I disliked about this budget, overall it is a victory for our state.
And I am sure many will criticize Cuomo for not reinstating the millionaire's tax, but this tax actually hits many upper middle class people. The state does not need anymore taxes. People are leaving the state because they cannot afford to live in their respective communities. Taxing will not get us out of this mess. Every public agency in the state is going to have to live with less. It has to be done. My salary did not go up this year, why should I have to pay more taxes for public Unions?
More importantly, if NY continues to tax the upper middle class and wealthy, they will leave. They pay the most taxes already. Does everyone realize that poor NYers actually receive tax refunds and actually pay very little taxes, except sales tax. Everyone wants Wal Street to be taxed.
What happens when Wall Street leaves and moves their business somewhere else? DO public workers realize that Wall Street bonuses every year account for a huge revenue stream for the state. When Wall Street does bad NY's revenue goes down. If the state continues to tax high earners to death they will leave the state. I am tired of people claiming wealthy earners do not pay their fare share. Have you actually looked at how much income a high earner makes after taxes?
And I am sure many will criticize Cuomo for not reinstating the millionaire's tax, but this tax actually hits many upper middle class people. The state does not need anymore taxes. People are leaving the state because they cannot afford to live in their respective communities. Taxing will not get us out of this mess. Every public agency in the state is going to have to live with less. It has to be done. My salary did not go up this year, why should I have to pay more taxes for public Unions?
More importantly, if NY continues to tax the upper middle class and wealthy, they will leave. They pay the most taxes already. Does everyone realize that poor NYers actually receive tax refunds and actually pay very little taxes, except sales tax. Everyone wants Wal Street to be taxed.
What happens when Wall Street leaves and moves their business somewhere else? DO public workers realize that Wall Street bonuses every year account for a huge revenue stream for the state. When Wall Street does bad NY's revenue goes down. If the state continues to tax high earners to death they will leave the state. I am tired of people claiming wealthy earners do not pay their fare share. Have you actually looked at how much income a high earner makes after taxes?
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
65.
Mark
New Jersey
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Tax cuts for the wealthy and spending cuts on programs for the poor, the elderly and the sick. New Yorkers might as well have voted for a Tea Party governor. Next he'll be hugging Chris Christie.
Recommend Recommended by 38 Readers
66.
Mike
Buffalo, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
The malpractice cap may have been a very broad stroke at reforming the system, but it was still better than nothing. It's loss in negotiations is disappointing, especially when virtually all parties agree the situation is untenable and malpractice insurance rates paid by New York State doctors are 2.5x as much as the national average.
It sounds like some very large cuts to medicaid, which will be passed on to providers (read: doctors, not hospital executives). To end $2 billion in payments to a system that already pays too little for practices to take sizable medicaid patients, because most practices lose money per every medicaid patient they see anyway, will prove for an interesting future.
Everybody talks about the 'most vulnerable' that need to be taken care of, but then they keep cutting the means to protect them and expect a third party's charity to keep the system running. What a shame.
It sounds like some very large cuts to medicaid, which will be passed on to providers (read: doctors, not hospital executives). To end $2 billion in payments to a system that already pays too little for practices to take sizable medicaid patients, because most practices lose money per every medicaid patient they see anyway, will prove for an interesting future.
Everybody talks about the 'most vulnerable' that need to be taken care of, but then they keep cutting the means to protect them and expect a third party's charity to keep the system running. What a shame.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
67.
Eric Toth
Minneapolis
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Oh and to the frauds who claim tax cuts create jobs and lure business? The biggest boom in American history had a 91% upper tax rate. The state of Minnesota has one of the highest concentrations of corporate HQs as well as one of the highest corporate tax rates.
We had the current level of taxation through the Bush years and throughout the current crisis. Where you your magical delusional fantasy that tax cuts magically create instant wealth and jobs for all?
It doesn't exist. Its a prove lie from the right wing and fools continue to triumph its merits despite having no historical evidence of any benefits.
I'm tired of the lies! Why aren't you? Why do you embrace them and attack rational solutions?
We had the current level of taxation through the Bush years and throughout the current crisis. Where you your magical delusional fantasy that tax cuts magically create instant wealth and jobs for all?
It doesn't exist. Its a prove lie from the right wing and fools continue to triumph its merits despite having no historical evidence of any benefits.
I'm tired of the lies! Why aren't you? Why do you embrace them and attack rational solutions?
Recommend Recommended by 47 Readers
68.
adamwc
NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
NY's tax burden is outrageous and entrepreneurs are voting with their feet. They're leaving the state to set-up shop where they won't be punished with excessive red tape and painful taxes. This is not a partisan view, it's a clear fact.
It is one thing to be upset about rich people who use their wealth as pull with politicians so that they can play by rules the rest of us cannot. That should be illegal and it's never moral. On the other hand, people who are earning a terrific livelihood because their work is valued by others, well, there's nothing wrong with that and they certainly shouldn't be penalized simply because they earn more than most do. NY would be a far better place if more of the people who create wealth opted to do so here. Creating incentives for rich people to leave the state helps nobody at all. Cuomo seems to recognize this. Again, this isn't a partisan point of view, it's reality.
Any governor who recognizes that it is the out-of-control spending of business-as-usual politicians that produces our ruinous budgets and scares risk-takers and job-creators away is best described as clear-headed on this point, not "Republican" or "Democrat."
It is one thing to be upset about rich people who use their wealth as pull with politicians so that they can play by rules the rest of us cannot. That should be illegal and it's never moral. On the other hand, people who are earning a terrific livelihood because their work is valued by others, well, there's nothing wrong with that and they certainly shouldn't be penalized simply because they earn more than most do. NY would be a far better place if more of the people who create wealth opted to do so here. Creating incentives for rich people to leave the state helps nobody at all. Cuomo seems to recognize this. Again, this isn't a partisan point of view, it's reality.
Any governor who recognizes that it is the out-of-control spending of business-as-usual politicians that produces our ruinous budgets and scares risk-takers and job-creators away is best described as clear-headed on this point, not "Republican" or "Democrat."
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
69.
Big spending cuts on education and health care. This is what our Democratic Party has become. FDR is sure turning in his grave. (and Republicans are laughing their socks off).
Recommend Recommended by 36 Readers
70.
Congrats to the Republicans on blocking the liberal Dem attempt to link the budget to rent controls, two wholly diparate issues.
The Dems, no doubt, will now try to link rent controls to other issues like the property tax cap. These issues are not related to each other and each should sink or swim on its own merits. The problem for the leftists is that rent control has no merits. So the strategy is linkage. Shameful.
The Dems, no doubt, will now try to link rent controls to other issues like the property tax cap. These issues are not related to each other and each should sink or swim on its own merits. The problem for the leftists is that rent control has no merits. So the strategy is linkage. Shameful.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
Maybe, just maybe, NYS (and perhaps the rest of the Northeast) are finally starting to get it. You can only raise taxes so far before companies, the jobs they create, and the talented individuals that staff them go somewhere else.
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
72.
Diana
New York
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
'The deal would end a temporary income tax surcharge on high-income New Yorkers, ...'
Does anything else need be said about who Cuomo's constituency truly is?
To paraphrase an old headline: Democrats/republicans to middle class = 'Drop Dead.'
Does anything else need be said about who Cuomo's constituency truly is?
To paraphrase an old headline: Democrats/republicans to middle class = 'Drop Dead.'
Recommend Recommended by 27 Readers
73.
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
This comment has been removed. Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.
74.
To paraphrase Plato (VERY roughly)... this is what democracy will get you because people are stupid.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
75.
Charles
San Diego, CA
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Tax Congress. Congress has the power to coin a trillion dollar coin. If Congress won't pay, then sue. Also, I'm tired of Republican's being blamed for poverty. Reagan was a Democrat pretending to be a Republican. Clinton signed "welfare reform" which turned welfare into workfare, which is unconstitutional. I realize there is a rich point of view, but bums matter too. A civil compromise I think is to tax Congress, telling them to coin the money. Money could be considered worth something. The number stamped on it is its price set by congress and backed up by the Army. People who have faith in the market lose it as soon as they are on the poor side of the demand curve, and if you don't care you should start going to church.
77.
Michael
Los Angeles, CA
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Perhaps the NY State legislature will also change the state motto from "Excelsior" to "Gelt Uber Alles."
The evidence is irrefutable that "trickle down" does not work. The poor do get poorer when the rich get richer. The only winners in this deal are high-earners and trial attorneys. I hope my state does not follow the NY model to close its budget gap.
The evidence is irrefutable that "trickle down" does not work. The poor do get poorer when the rich get richer. The only winners in this deal are high-earners and trial attorneys. I hope my state does not follow the NY model to close its budget gap.
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
78.
Patricia Dowds
Bayport,NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
The Robber Barons ride again!
Recommend Recommended by 43 Readers
79.
Sally
Long Island, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Just curious- Has anyone seen any of the jobs that Governor Cuomo has helped to create. I am going to need to apply, since I will be out of a job in June thanks to his fiscal responsibility. I find his commercial comical. I have heard of many lay-offs in all types of businesses, but have not heard about any job creations.
Recommend Recommended by 23 Readers
80.
Paul Adams
Stony Brook
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
Skimping on education and health to cut taxes on the very wealthy is stupid, immoral and bizarre - especially since it's largely the misbehavior of the wealthy that put us in this mess. But nothing in politics surprises me anymore.
Recommend Recommended by 44 Readers
81.
PMGPillai 19235
Mannar Allpuzha Kerala India
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
dear on ;;line editor, Any bufget is a serious economic calculation based om on available income and essential expences required for the public needs Hence if an agreement can be reached between the government and opposition then this must be considered a very important affaiur in a democratic administration dated monday March 28th2011 time 0530Hrs ist AM
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers
82.
Raul
Prospect Heights, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:06 pm
New York: Socialism for the rich, paid for by subsidies by everyone else.
Recommend Recommended by 50 Readers
83.
terry
washingtonville, new york
March 27th, 2011
9:07 pm
I'm confused. Thought the federal government showered tax breaks on the very wealthy while they were alive. And while they were dead. So, the very wealthy will not have to pay either federal or state taxes on their income, right?
Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers
84.
What? You DID say NY and not WI, right? Give the comfortable more comfort on the backs of the suffering? Was there a very VERY close relationship between Mrs. Cuomo and a hypocritical conservative mail carrier?
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
All can see that we spend more than we earn in NYS and every other state in the Union. So what is the answer? Taxing the rich even 90% of their incomes will not balance the books because (a) they will all leave and (b) there are not enough of them to generate sufficient revenue. Our fundamental problem is that we are being bled dry by the foreign wars we are fighting (now 3, thanks to good old 'Bam, who wants his very own war). If we stop spending all that money blowing things up, we will have a few dollars for the things which matter to the people. It's called the "peace dividend", apparently. Problem is, we have two political parties which are both in the grip of the firms which profit from war and zionist imperialism which wants G.I. Joe to fight the Arabs for it.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
86.
Omar
New York
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
Regarding education being one of the "largest drivers of New York’s ever-growing budget", there's nothing wrong with that. There are more baby New Yorkers so naturally more schools need to be built and more teachers need to be hired. If the state can retain the kids it educates, and it educates them well, they will become tax payers and sustain the growth in education spending.
There's only a problem if a large number of kids grow up and leave New York as adults, and it probably has little to do with the amount they pay in taxes and more to do with the quality of service those taxes pay for, or perhaps, don't pay for. If people are satisfied, they'll stay in New York and pay. If not, they'll leave.
I'm currently not satisfied.
How to satisfy me:
* Stop allowing our state, and every other for that matter, to be bullied by large corporations. They're not going to lose sleep at night if they don't get even more tax breaks, and they're not going to hire any less or any more people than they already plan to, they'll hire exactly the number they need.
* Stop playing statistical games with our schools and just admit that they are all underperforming, even ones like Stuyvesant. Encourage teachers to fail more students if they don't deserve to pass. Make standardized exams more difficult. Discourage guessing with a 1.5 point penalty for wrong answers on multiple choice exams. Retrain or fire the really bad teachers (the ones that students complain they never can understand). Make a high school diploma actually meaningful. And fund schools in poorer communities just as well as those in wealthier ones; they'll eventually pull themselves up if you do.
* Fix the MTA. Fares are ridiculous. Even RIPTA in Rhode Island of all places is cheaper, and their buses actually accept dollar bills. Buses are late way too often. If there's constantly a traffic issue on the route, such as parents triple parking to drop their kids at school, the route should be changed to go around it. Trains are better, but some stations look, smell, and are disgusting. Also, the crosstown G is not very useful because although it passes many other lies, it often doesn't have transfer points to them. Fix that, and connect it to the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and people might actually use it.
* Investigate the staffing at all state agencies. Many of the office workers are lazy and unproductive; there are seriously some employees who only shred a few sheets of paper ever couple of days, if they don't simply put them in a pile for someone else to do later. Fire them. The new hires tend to do all their months/years of procrastinated work in a a couple hours, only to be told they don't have to work so quickly.
* Stop wasting money on useless programs and/or departments that don't help much, if they help at all. Warren Redlich had some good points on where to start.
There's only a problem if a large number of kids grow up and leave New York as adults, and it probably has little to do with the amount they pay in taxes and more to do with the quality of service those taxes pay for, or perhaps, don't pay for. If people are satisfied, they'll stay in New York and pay. If not, they'll leave.
I'm currently not satisfied.
How to satisfy me:
* Stop allowing our state, and every other for that matter, to be bullied by large corporations. They're not going to lose sleep at night if they don't get even more tax breaks, and they're not going to hire any less or any more people than they already plan to, they'll hire exactly the number they need.
* Stop playing statistical games with our schools and just admit that they are all underperforming, even ones like Stuyvesant. Encourage teachers to fail more students if they don't deserve to pass. Make standardized exams more difficult. Discourage guessing with a 1.5 point penalty for wrong answers on multiple choice exams. Retrain or fire the really bad teachers (the ones that students complain they never can understand). Make a high school diploma actually meaningful. And fund schools in poorer communities just as well as those in wealthier ones; they'll eventually pull themselves up if you do.
* Fix the MTA. Fares are ridiculous. Even RIPTA in Rhode Island of all places is cheaper, and their buses actually accept dollar bills. Buses are late way too often. If there's constantly a traffic issue on the route, such as parents triple parking to drop their kids at school, the route should be changed to go around it. Trains are better, but some stations look, smell, and are disgusting. Also, the crosstown G is not very useful because although it passes many other lies, it often doesn't have transfer points to them. Fix that, and connect it to the Franklin Avenue Shuttle and people might actually use it.
* Investigate the staffing at all state agencies. Many of the office workers are lazy and unproductive; there are seriously some employees who only shred a few sheets of paper ever couple of days, if they don't simply put them in a pile for someone else to do later. Fire them. The new hires tend to do all their months/years of procrastinated work in a a couple hours, only to be told they don't have to work so quickly.
* Stop wasting money on useless programs and/or departments that don't help much, if they help at all. Warren Redlich had some good points on where to start.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
87.
Joel L. Friedlander
Huntington Station, New York
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
You are a bunch of crybabies. Why do we need to educate our children when all the good jobs are going overseas day after day. All we need to do in schools is to teach our kids how to work at Home Depot dragging boxes and pointing out where things are to customers. After a little while the better students will all be going to the new private schools that will start springing up to get a good education. We don't need schools and teachers, all we need is yacht makers for the rich and schools to teach our kids to be maids and butlers. Many thanks to Andrew the the legislature for truly understanding where New York State is going; down the toilet.
Recommend Recommended by 36 Readers
88.
Holly
Golden, Co
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
There is only one hope for New York, Natural Gas. Employment, taxable income, high paying jobs and low cost heat and electricity for the state.
How can you beat that?
How can you beat that?
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader
89.
mancuroc
Rochester, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
As one of Gov. Cuomo's predecessors said about another event: "a day that will live in infamy". I suspect he would have felt the same about this, too.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
90.
MJ
NYC
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
A Four Percent increase is a CUT?
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
91.
Seems the Democrats have joined the Republicans; they're both on their knees servicing the rich. One big, happy incestuous family.
Recommend Recommended by 28 Readers
92.
Richard
New York NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
First Obama sells out, and now Cuomo? When are people going to come to their senses!
Recommend Recommended by 25 Readers
My school taxes are slated to go up 6.9% on top of a 7% increase last year. This new Gov. smells like rotten fish. I am moving out of this tax ridden state. Bloomberg and Cuomo should get married.
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
94.
Repulsed by the culture we live in
Brooklyn, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
That Cuomo does not so much as mention the need to impose taxes on the ultra rich (while quietly ending surcharges on the ultra wealthy) while attacking the unions--working and middle classes--is a dead giveaway. This guy Cuomo is on the side of the ultra-rich and the richest corporations, stupid!
New York Democrats are so dumb. I don't know why they voted for Cuomo in the primaries and elections in overwhelming numbers. (Part of the reason is corporate media, such as Rupert Murdoch's NY Post and PBS's Newshour, an organ of propaganda that distracts and mis-informs and un-informs in order to support the interests of the corporate/investor class. All these newscasters earn multi-million dollar salaries--they are of the corporate class.)
People don't get this: when Cuomo ends surcharges on the ultra-rich, he is doing it on the backs of the working classes in the form of lessened social net down the road. He lowers and eliminates taxes for the ultra rich, so he needs to cut find where he can cut benefits for YOU. Only you are asked to sacrifice, not his ultra-rich buddies.
At a time when 80? percent of the wealth that was created in the past decade went to the top 5? percent of the population, it seems we need more balance to redistribute wealth DOWN, not UP by cutting taxes on the top 5 percent further.
The rich create jobs and so we should not tax them, say the organs of propaganda (American TV news). Well then, the middle and working classes and the poor CONSUME, and therefore we should not take money out of their hands either. In fact, the poor spend their money immediately, so money in their hands have a quicker stimulative effect on the economy than tax cuts for people who already have hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in their bank accounts and in real estate and are unlikely to spend that tax cut to create jobs.
One of the villains in this dysfunctional political system is American TV, an organ of propaganda which in the interests of the investor and corporate class keeps people mis-informed. Thus people do not know Cuomo is a supporter of the interests of the investor and corporate class. (Just look at who his friends are.)
Why does everyone seem so stupid? (Because they are mis-educated by American TV news)
New York Democrats are so dumb. I don't know why they voted for Cuomo in the primaries and elections in overwhelming numbers. (Part of the reason is corporate media, such as Rupert Murdoch's NY Post and PBS's Newshour, an organ of propaganda that distracts and mis-informs and un-informs in order to support the interests of the corporate/investor class. All these newscasters earn multi-million dollar salaries--they are of the corporate class.)
People don't get this: when Cuomo ends surcharges on the ultra-rich, he is doing it on the backs of the working classes in the form of lessened social net down the road. He lowers and eliminates taxes for the ultra rich, so he needs to cut find where he can cut benefits for YOU. Only you are asked to sacrifice, not his ultra-rich buddies.
At a time when 80? percent of the wealth that was created in the past decade went to the top 5? percent of the population, it seems we need more balance to redistribute wealth DOWN, not UP by cutting taxes on the top 5 percent further.
The rich create jobs and so we should not tax them, say the organs of propaganda (American TV news). Well then, the middle and working classes and the poor CONSUME, and therefore we should not take money out of their hands either. In fact, the poor spend their money immediately, so money in their hands have a quicker stimulative effect on the economy than tax cuts for people who already have hundreds of millions of dollars sitting in their bank accounts and in real estate and are unlikely to spend that tax cut to create jobs.
One of the villains in this dysfunctional political system is American TV, an organ of propaganda which in the interests of the investor and corporate class keeps people mis-informed. Thus people do not know Cuomo is a supporter of the interests of the investor and corporate class. (Just look at who his friends are.)
Why does everyone seem so stupid? (Because they are mis-educated by American TV news)
Recommend Recommended by 19 Readers
95.
Jay
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
This refusal to tax the wealthy (post-bailout) and enthusiasm for cutting basic services for everyone else is bringing America to its breaking point.
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
96.
tyb stuck in cali
los angeles, ca
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
I only hope Cuomo will send all the middle and lower class citizens of New York state copies of his girlfriend Sandra Lee's semihomemade cookbooks so they can learn to cook using food from the 99 cent stores since that is all they will be able to afford...
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
97.
Daniel
NZ
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
Reading the US papers is fuelling an odd morbid curiosity…
It is a unique culture that accepts the ruling class overtly striving to make its future citizens less prepared and the working class less competitive.
It seems to be a culture looking to hand individual rights and responsibilities to the plutocracy enabling national apathy.
The US ain’t what it used to be… may be this is why?
It is a unique culture that accepts the ruling class overtly striving to make its future citizens less prepared and the working class less competitive.
It seems to be a culture looking to hand individual rights and responsibilities to the plutocracy enabling national apathy.
The US ain’t what it used to be… may be this is why?
Recommend Recommended by 27 Readers
98.
E. Shackleton
South Atlantic
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
$200,000 is hardly rich Fat Cats anywhere except for maybe way upstate New York. For most of the NYC area, and suburbs that is "middle class". So tax the people who work hard and spend hard, so some teacher or fire fighter or cop can retire at 40 and get a $100K pension to play gold at Bethpage. Work hard. And if its not enough, work harder! Government owes you safety from your fellow citizens and foreign nations, it doesn't owe you a job or food on the table.
And how about simple stuff we can all agree on: no pensions for those convicted or indicted for crimes committed in the course of their duties. I am pretty sure those NYC cops that were convicted of being hitmen for the Mob are still collecting a pension. NY State has some of the highest and most overbloated pensions in the country.
And FYI: the real rich "Fat Cats" pay hardly any taxes. They have a team of people sheltering their money from the "unwashed masses".
And how about simple stuff we can all agree on: no pensions for those convicted or indicted for crimes committed in the course of their duties. I am pretty sure those NYC cops that were convicted of being hitmen for the Mob are still collecting a pension. NY State has some of the highest and most overbloated pensions in the country.
And FYI: the real rich "Fat Cats" pay hardly any taxes. They have a team of people sheltering their money from the "unwashed masses".
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
Protect the rich and bilk the rest, Republican nomination's in the bag Mr Cuomo, just switch parties!
Recommend Recommended by 20 Readers
100.
Stew
Plainview, New York
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
Governor Cuomo can now compare his right wing voodoo economic policies with his counterpart across the Hudson, Gov. Christie. The problems of the states is not that they spend too much, it is that they're underfunded. The brokerage houses, banks and hedge funds pay next to nothing in taxes. Goldman Sachs had $2 billion in profits last year and paid $14 million in taxes. The idea that wealthy individuls or businesses are going to relocate to Idaho is ridiculous. Just as Obama abandoned the middle class and his supporters when he vilified teachers in Rhode Island, refused to push for a single payer health care system and supported excessive budget cuts, Cuomo has now turned the state over to his advisory councils made up of anti-tax idealogues and Bloomberg sycophants. The Mayor will be thrilled that he can now layoff those teachers and continue to destroy public education in New York. It wasn't the teachers, police officers and sanitation workers(with their "fat pensions and benefits") that caused the recession, but you can't tell that from the daily news headlines or from the policies of our new, "very strong" governor.
Recommend Recommended by 22 Readers
102.
peterg11742
NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
Good job by Cuomo to balance the budget under very tough circumstances. I wish the Feds could balance just one single budget.
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers
103.
Roy
California
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
How come all governors are cutting spending except our Moonbeam Brown? Can we recall Moonbeam and elect Cuomo here?
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers
104.
Vanessa
Westchester, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
I had high hopes for Mr. Cuomo but ending the millionaire tax at the massive expense of education and social services is not the way to go about balancing the budget. Letting the upper end of the social spectrum continue to weasel out from shouldering their fair share of the tax burden is his way of kowtowing to his rich buddies. The rich aren't going to flee the state, they haven't yet, but we are going to put ourselves at a long term disadvantage if we undermine our youth by undercutting education in our most vulnerable districts.
Inner city districts like Yonkers and NYC are about to suffer massive cutbacks and layoffs while upstate districts cannot hope to compete with the better funded downstate suburban districts. This is incredibly disheartening to the students and the staff who try to continue to meet federal mandates as funding becomes scarcer and scarcer. Constant blame is placed on the heads of teachers for all of these money problems but student enrollment continues to increase while funding continues to decrease. Teachers pay large portions of their own health care, pensions are actually deferred salaries and no one is more concerned about the welfare of the students than those who the care of them every day.
Inner city districts like Yonkers and NYC are about to suffer massive cutbacks and layoffs while upstate districts cannot hope to compete with the better funded downstate suburban districts. This is incredibly disheartening to the students and the staff who try to continue to meet federal mandates as funding becomes scarcer and scarcer. Constant blame is placed on the heads of teachers for all of these money problems but student enrollment continues to increase while funding continues to decrease. Teachers pay large portions of their own health care, pensions are actually deferred salaries and no one is more concerned about the welfare of the students than those who the care of them every day.
Recommend Recommended by 20 Readers
105.
chas
Clinton, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
The Democrats haven't stood up for the workers since before Clinton's administration. Let's shut this state down.
Recommend Recommended by 23 Readers
106.
dc lambert
nj
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
So what's the difference between the Democrats and Republicans exactly? I get the feeling that it's more and more just "Good Cop and Bad Cop" - Democrats talk nice and Republicans talk tough but at the end of the day, they both serve corporate interests. It's also getting more blatant. Even the language of this article is approving: "significant victory"??? And yes, $200K in NYC area is hardly 'millionaire"--but just raise the threshold to actual millionaires and up. You have hedge fund zillionaires paying far lower tax rates than teachers. We needed tax reform and we got attacks on the middle and lower classes. Sure, wealthy people don't care about schools and healthcare--they pay out of pocket for whatever they want. So who is exactly is doing the 'belt tightening' here? It's just obscene.
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
107.
Jon
VT
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
How typical. Trick the health care providers and hospitals to go along by saying you're going to do tort reform, and then in the 11th hour drop tort reform while saddling the providers and hospitals with billions of dollars of cuts.
Don't be surprised then when you have an access problem.
Can we please fire all the lawyers in our government?
Don't be surprised then when you have an access problem.
Can we please fire all the lawyers in our government?
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
108.
GC
Central New Jersey
March 27th, 2011
9:27 pm
I'll venture to say that before the end of Cuomo's first term, he will become a Republican. He is certainly no Democrat in any sense of the word.
Recommend Recommended by 22 Readers
Cuomo sounds just like the Governors in Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, etc. He will go for the unions next. He must have been to the same republican governors meeting.
Recommend Recommended by 18 Readers
110.
We are betrayed. The millionaires own Albany. The 98% who will be required to sacrifice to the 2% so they can have more money while the children and the sick and elderly must tighten their belts is too cruel to contemplate. Shame on the Governor and the Assembly and the Senate. Special shame on Mr. Cuomo for cozying up to the rich for the hope of presidential office. Everyone will remember this betrayal.
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
111.
Chris
New York
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Thank God the richest new Yorkers will not have to skimp anymore. I was getting tired of having to fuel up only one private jet for my trips to the French Riviera. Now I can bring my whole entourage!
As for Medicaid recipients and impoverished children, could they be any more depressing or ungrateful? Let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
As for Medicaid recipients and impoverished children, could they be any more depressing or ungrateful? Let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
Recommend Recommended by 26 Readers
112.
Eric Lowin
Pleasant Hill, CA
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
During the Eisenhower era, we paid off the huge WWII debt with, among other things, a 92% marginal tax rate on the highest earners. Its about time we reinstituted that so as to re allocate, albeit thirty years late, the incredible income and wealth inequity we now have in this nation.
Recommend Recommended by 25 Readers
113.
College Debt
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Help me out so I can leave this financial ruin of a city ...
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/for/2290232147.html
http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/for/2290232147.html
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers
114.
Wack
chicago
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
People who bought the argument that we can reduce deficit without increaseing taxes and/or without reducing essential services are to blame for all of this. When you vote next time, decide whether you are in top 5%. If we dont think and vote, this will remain a first world country for top 5%, second world country for another 15-20% and become a third world country for the rest of the people.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
115.
Jonathan
IL
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Physicians are already taking a loss for every Medicaid patient they see. Now you are going to cut even more in reimbursements, while overhead costs like malpractice premiums and rent continue to skyrocket. Medicaid in NYC reimburses a physician just $17 for a physical. How much is a haircut in NYC? What do they think will happen?
These bureaucrats, politicians and cronies have just made an already tenuous situation a lot worse.
These bureaucrats, politicians and cronies have just made an already tenuous situation a lot worse.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
116.
JOHN SOGOL
NEW YORK
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
The High-Tax Trap
August 03, 2009
By E. J. McMahon
WELL, what do you know? After raising taxes on high-income households by up to 31 percent, New York state is collecting far less income tax than it had anticipated just a few months ago. That drop in tax receipts is a major reason why a $2.1 billion hole has just opened in the state’s 2009-10 budget.
Gov. Paterson promises that by “early fall” -- that is, after six more weeks of budgetary inaction by the Legislature -- he will propose a deficit-closure plan including “substantial reductions in local assistance and State Operations spending, as well as other measures to achieve a balanced budget in the current year.”
Don’t be surprised if the state’s labor-dominated “fair share” groups respond to any threat of spending cuts by pushing for yet another soak-the-rich tax increase.
Here’s one argument they’ll use: New York’s temporary new top rate of just under 9 percent was calibrated to equal the maximum marginal rate adopted a few years ago by New Jersey. But the Garden State has since leapfrogged us, raising its top rate to 10.75 percent on households with incomes of more than $1 million.
So New York now has more room to raise its own taxes again. Get it?
Of course, this kind of logic requires turning a blind eye to lower income tax rates in neighboring Connecticut (5 percent), Massachusetts (5.3 percent) and Pennsylvania (3.07 percent) -- not to mention Florida, New Hampshire and Texas (which have no income tax at all).
It also requires overlooking the impact of higher state income taxes in New York City, where the current combined state and local income tax rate of 12.62 percent is already the highest in the nation.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Albany is now reaping the predictable consequences of Paterson’s cave-in to the Legislature’s demand for higher income taxes.
Since the mid ’90s, New York has become increasingly reliant on taxes generated by a small number of high-income households. By 2007, the top 1 percent of earners was generating 41 percent of the state’s income-tax receipts.
This tax structure was “inherently unstable,” “volatile” and “unsustainable,” as the state Assembly Majority Ways and Means Committee staff acknowledged in a report last February.
Yet, with a big push from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, this year’s income-tax hike made the state’s revenue stream even more unstable, volatile and unsustainable -- without even taking into account the dampening impact that higher taxes will have on New York’s economic-recovery prospects.
Under the circumstances, Paterson’s Division of the Budget can hardly be blamed for missing its revenue target. The risk is that it’s still guessing too high.
Despite the big rate increase, the state’s first-quarter income-tax receipts were down 31 percent from the same period the year before. In part, the drop reflects the lag effects of financial losses sustained by taxpayers last year. DOB’s updated financial plan forecasts that most of this shortfall will be made up over the next eight months.
Problem is, wealthy households now have a growing incentive to shelter, defer and move around income in anticipation of federal tax hikes that could raise the combined statewide marginal tax rate in New York to nearly 50 percent.
Because the city and the state tap the same pool of income as the federal government, any policy change affecting taxpayer behavior at one level ultimately affects revenues at all three levels. Thus, President Obama’s plan to significantly raise income tax rates no later than 2011 inevitably will shrink New York’s taxable income base.
And if Congress imposes a “millionaire tax” to pay for national health care, the local base will shrink even more.
In the shorter term, we’re likely to experience a whipsaw effect: Aware of what’s coming in 2011, high earners will do everything they can to accelerate capital gains and other income from 2011 into 2010, which in turn will pump up New York’s state and city income-tax collections next year. That temporary bump will be followed by another sickening drop the following year -- when billions in federal stimulus aid is also set to expire, blowing open the biggest budget gaps in New York’s history.
Of course, all this focus on tax receipts obscures the main problem: spending. While revenues are dipping, New York’s state-funds budget is on track to grow 24 percent over the next three years.
Even assuming there is no further deterioration in revenues, DOB says it will need to tap the state’s remaining reserves to avoid running out of cash at the end of this year. If Paterson and the Legislature don’t plan on getting serious about this problem sooner rather than later, they might as well start printing IOUs right now.
August 03, 2009
By E. J. McMahon
WELL, what do you know? After raising taxes on high-income households by up to 31 percent, New York state is collecting far less income tax than it had anticipated just a few months ago. That drop in tax receipts is a major reason why a $2.1 billion hole has just opened in the state’s 2009-10 budget.
Gov. Paterson promises that by “early fall” -- that is, after six more weeks of budgetary inaction by the Legislature -- he will propose a deficit-closure plan including “substantial reductions in local assistance and State Operations spending, as well as other measures to achieve a balanced budget in the current year.”
Don’t be surprised if the state’s labor-dominated “fair share” groups respond to any threat of spending cuts by pushing for yet another soak-the-rich tax increase.
Here’s one argument they’ll use: New York’s temporary new top rate of just under 9 percent was calibrated to equal the maximum marginal rate adopted a few years ago by New Jersey. But the Garden State has since leapfrogged us, raising its top rate to 10.75 percent on households with incomes of more than $1 million.
So New York now has more room to raise its own taxes again. Get it?
Of course, this kind of logic requires turning a blind eye to lower income tax rates in neighboring Connecticut (5 percent), Massachusetts (5.3 percent) and Pennsylvania (3.07 percent) -- not to mention Florida, New Hampshire and Texas (which have no income tax at all).
It also requires overlooking the impact of higher state income taxes in New York City, where the current combined state and local income tax rate of 12.62 percent is already the highest in the nation.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Albany is now reaping the predictable consequences of Paterson’s cave-in to the Legislature’s demand for higher income taxes.
Since the mid ’90s, New York has become increasingly reliant on taxes generated by a small number of high-income households. By 2007, the top 1 percent of earners was generating 41 percent of the state’s income-tax receipts.
This tax structure was “inherently unstable,” “volatile” and “unsustainable,” as the state Assembly Majority Ways and Means Committee staff acknowledged in a report last February.
Yet, with a big push from Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, this year’s income-tax hike made the state’s revenue stream even more unstable, volatile and unsustainable -- without even taking into account the dampening impact that higher taxes will have on New York’s economic-recovery prospects.
Under the circumstances, Paterson’s Division of the Budget can hardly be blamed for missing its revenue target. The risk is that it’s still guessing too high.
Despite the big rate increase, the state’s first-quarter income-tax receipts were down 31 percent from the same period the year before. In part, the drop reflects the lag effects of financial losses sustained by taxpayers last year. DOB’s updated financial plan forecasts that most of this shortfall will be made up over the next eight months.
Problem is, wealthy households now have a growing incentive to shelter, defer and move around income in anticipation of federal tax hikes that could raise the combined statewide marginal tax rate in New York to nearly 50 percent.
Because the city and the state tap the same pool of income as the federal government, any policy change affecting taxpayer behavior at one level ultimately affects revenues at all three levels. Thus, President Obama’s plan to significantly raise income tax rates no later than 2011 inevitably will shrink New York’s taxable income base.
And if Congress imposes a “millionaire tax” to pay for national health care, the local base will shrink even more.
In the shorter term, we’re likely to experience a whipsaw effect: Aware of what’s coming in 2011, high earners will do everything they can to accelerate capital gains and other income from 2011 into 2010, which in turn will pump up New York’s state and city income-tax collections next year. That temporary bump will be followed by another sickening drop the following year -- when billions in federal stimulus aid is also set to expire, blowing open the biggest budget gaps in New York’s history.
Of course, all this focus on tax receipts obscures the main problem: spending. While revenues are dipping, New York’s state-funds budget is on track to grow 24 percent over the next three years.
Even assuming there is no further deterioration in revenues, DOB says it will need to tap the state’s remaining reserves to avoid running out of cash at the end of this year. If Paterson and the Legislature don’t plan on getting serious about this problem sooner rather than later, they might as well start printing IOUs right now.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader
117.
Marie Nesemann
Neenah, WI
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Did Cuomo take lessons from Walker of Wisconsin? I live in Wisconsin and this nonsense being promoted means an end to the middle class and their future since their children will bear the brunt of the cuts in education. What is wrong is that the more you reduce the ability to the middle class to spend, the more you make our economy suffer. Cuomo should read Paul Krugman for some basic supply and demand economic lessons that I learned in Econ 101. This country is going down the tubes. Recall them all!!!!
Recommend Recommended by 22 Readers
118.
richard
denver
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Love all of the "nasty Republicans who cut education " comments! Like we have had such great results on the billions we have spent since the sixties on education and fighting "the war on poverty." Give me a break. Just throwing out money does not ensure good results nor does it prove that your political party is the "kindest." A big waste of tax payers' funds . But a great "vote buyer" for the kind, considerate, money throwing Democrats! We need more more accountability with tax funds. Would you give money to a mechanic who didn't fix your car? Would you give money to a painter who didn't paint your house? Would you give money to a doctor who didn't take out your appendix as promised? Don't think so. Public funded anything should be expected to produce good results. Nice try Democrats. Won't fly with the voters...
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
119.
muks
planet zenar, outer galaxy
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
A great tribute to the backdoor corrupt politics of secret meeting behind closed doors that should have ended with the Tammeny era. Instead of making a progressive tax code from 250k with consecutively higher brackets (350, 450 on up and up to millions) and making some modest budget cuts, they hit two critical areas -education- the future of ny, and health care. And finally, in true style of corrupt lawyers, they all agree not to cap malpractice awards with reasonable standards,so the lawyers can continue to enrich themsleves like the leeches they truly are in society.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
Weren't those people in New York that make all the money already given a tax break by Obama and the GOP?
Did we bail out their butts once a couple of years ago?
Can anybody tell me what is fair and good about this budget?
Did we bail out their butts once a couple of years ago?
Can anybody tell me what is fair and good about this budget?
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
121.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Jim
Seattle to Mexico
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Mr. Cuomo, as Attorney General had an opportunity to see in the past 10 years the Inequality of wealth that has built up over the past 35 years. Those playing the Wall Street Casino make the robber barons of old - the Astors, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew W. Mellon, Cornelius Vanderbilt,Henry Flagler,Andrew Carnegie and the rest - look like generous philanthropists. While the Wall Street Cartel has amassed incredible fortunes, the working classes have seen massive losses in their pensions; 35% of their home equity has evaporated; and a federal tax welfare bailout of 800 billion dollar was handed to the very richest 2% of americans; while the Wall Street Cartel's bonuses soared 720%.
Just look at the numbers of the soaring inequality of wealth:
The top .01% (That's the top 1/100 of 1%) US households make an annual average income of $27,342,212(That's 27 million dollars !)
The next richest group of US households are .01-.1% and they have an average annual income of $3,238,386.
Next the top 1% have an average annual income of $1,137,684
Then the top 10% have an average annual income of $164,647
That's the income distribution for the top 10% of all US households.
Lastly, the bottom 90% have an average annual income of $31,244.
The top 10% control 2/3 of all the wealth in the country
Mr. Cuomo could have ratcheted up the tax surcharge to 2% for the top 2% of households starting at $500,000 and left 98% of New Yorkers unaffected.
He seems to be following in the footsteps of the greedy political class of governors and legislatures who would rather attack the unions, healthcare, medicaid, teachers, education and the social safety net so carefully crafted by a bi-partisan body-politic over the past 80 years. He and the others seem out of touch with the plight of the working class and the millions who are loosing their incomes, jobs, healthcare and homes. Are they so insulated and inebriated behind those walled country clubs, that they don't see the race to the bottom that many americans are now experiencing.
Just look at the numbers of the soaring inequality of wealth:
The top .01% (That's the top 1/100 of 1%) US households make an annual average income of $27,342,212(That's 27 million dollars !)
The next richest group of US households are .01-.1% and they have an average annual income of $3,238,386.
Next the top 1% have an average annual income of $1,137,684
Then the top 10% have an average annual income of $164,647
That's the income distribution for the top 10% of all US households.
Lastly, the bottom 90% have an average annual income of $31,244.
The top 10% control 2/3 of all the wealth in the country
Mr. Cuomo could have ratcheted up the tax surcharge to 2% for the top 2% of households starting at $500,000 and left 98% of New Yorkers unaffected.
He seems to be following in the footsteps of the greedy political class of governors and legislatures who would rather attack the unions, healthcare, medicaid, teachers, education and the social safety net so carefully crafted by a bi-partisan body-politic over the past 80 years. He and the others seem out of touch with the plight of the working class and the millions who are loosing their incomes, jobs, healthcare and homes. Are they so insulated and inebriated behind those walled country clubs, that they don't see the race to the bottom that many americans are now experiencing.
Recommend Recommended by 32 Readers
122.
Edmund Dantes
Stratford, CT
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
When even Andrew Cuomo can recognize the importance of finally bringing economic growth back to NY, this is a good day.
But keep in mind, there is no actual budget cut here. They created an artificial, higher baseline, then "cut" from that. It's all pretend. The amount of spending will be going up, not down. Read the fine print, people.
But keep in mind, there is no actual budget cut here. They created an artificial, higher baseline, then "cut" from that. It's all pretend. The amount of spending will be going up, not down. Read the fine print, people.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
@Mary V.
My point is only that the analogy is mistaken. There are tons of things that can and ought to be done to get out of our fiscal situation, and a good deal of it does not mean more borrowing. Some means real and enforced levels of taxation. Some of it means some leadership from the Democrats in refashioning the debate on federalism that Clinton punted. As long as states are allowed to compete against each other as brutally as they're doing for American and foreign-based capital, there'll be a race to the bottom every time. So sure, it's not just Andrew Cuomo, but it's the rot at the bottom of our political orthodoxy (in which, alas, he seems to be wallowing).
My point is only that the analogy is mistaken. There are tons of things that can and ought to be done to get out of our fiscal situation, and a good deal of it does not mean more borrowing. Some means real and enforced levels of taxation. Some of it means some leadership from the Democrats in refashioning the debate on federalism that Clinton punted. As long as states are allowed to compete against each other as brutally as they're doing for American and foreign-based capital, there'll be a race to the bottom every time. So sure, it's not just Andrew Cuomo, but it's the rot at the bottom of our political orthodoxy (in which, alas, he seems to be wallowing).
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
124.
Rigoletto
Zurich
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Indicative as to the direction of the USA (and not only NY) are taking: health and education are not needed. An excellent idea to facilitate the control of the people.
Your founding fathers are all turning in their tomb!
Another sad day for the USA.
Your founding fathers are all turning in their tomb!
Another sad day for the USA.
Recommend Recommended by 16 Readers
125.
a.
Brooklyn
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Mr. Cuomo provides a useful illustration of why I changed my registration, after many years as a Democrat, to Green.
Recommend Recommended by 18 Readers
O
Brooklyn
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
And let's remember, the Working Families Party endorsed this guy. What a great minor party they are! Really standing up for working families with this one!
If you want progressive policies, vote for progressive (Green) candidates. Or better yet, vote to call a constitutional convention the next we get the chance in ... 2017... so we can implement a more democratic system.
If you want progressive policies, vote for progressive (Green) candidates. Or better yet, vote to call a constitutional convention the next we get the chance in ... 2017... so we can implement a more democratic system.
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
127.
SC
Indiana, PA
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Rich people will continue to expand their waistlines, while working people starve--that's the lesson here. The example that comes to mind is yesterday's story in the NYTIMES about the contrasting impact of cuts on two school districts, one in Mohawk and the other in a wealthy Long Island District. Guess what? The Mohawk school district is in free fall, while the LI district is barely affected because it's wealthy property tax base provides more than enough funding. Also, its schools have cleverly exploited loopholes in the laws to hog what state aid there is. So tightening belts is apparently only required of people, children in this case, who are already stripped naked and starved.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
128.
Chris
Peoria, AZ
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Keep cutting taxes for corporations and the very rich while cutting benefits for the middle class and the poor. Corporations and the very rich are your masters. They funded your campaigns and offer bribes otherwise called lobbying.
The middle class and poor don't matter. They deserve to get shafted considering they are stupid enough to believe what they hear on Fox News and vote against their own best interest.
The United Corporations of America - the land where the lucky very rich few matter a whole lot more than everyone else.
The middle class and poor don't matter. They deserve to get shafted considering they are stupid enough to believe what they hear on Fox News and vote against their own best interest.
The United Corporations of America - the land where the lucky very rich few matter a whole lot more than everyone else.
Recommend Recommended by 19 Readers
129.
Kuperberg
Swarthmore, PA
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
I'm confused. I thought it was Governor Christie in New Jersey who was the Republican. I guess I was wrong.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
130.
Yankee fan
Albany, NY
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Maybe a more fundamental question would be: Why does a state with 20 million, require a spending budget of $132 billion? That's $6,500 per year for every man, woman, child resident.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
131.
Jesse
Manhattan
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
Why even bother to vote?
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
132.
Ruth Beazer
New York City
March 27th, 2011
9:51 pm
I think the elderly will take the brunt of these cutbacks. I am elderly myself and I see myself having some difficulties with all these cutbacks. I have read about the current proposed budget - the only segment of the budget that wasn't improved was the funding for the elderly.
I hope those who approve this cut to the elderly should encounter the same fate as they become elderly, that is if they live that long.
Ruth Beazer
I hope those who approve this cut to the elderly should encounter the same fate as they become elderly, that is if they live that long.
Ruth Beazer
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
133.
You don't give tax breaks to millionaires/billionaires & discontinue rent regulation while simultaneously cutting aid to vital programs the middle & lower class depend on: Healthcare & Education. That is biased in favor of the wealthy in other words Republican policy. It was my misjudgement I THOUGHT New York had a responsible Democratic Governor. It sickens my heart to see this Nation's politics shifted to the right. The GOP are no longer center-right but right-wing and the Democratic party is no longer center-left but centrist. All Progressives must know we cannot allow American's politics to continue down this dangerous path. We need to build a Progressive Tea party and elect candidates who will assert progressive values & fight the GOP & Wall St, not execute their wishes. Also no more moderate and conservative Democrats (e.g. Governor Cuomo).
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers
134.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Even if Cuomo appears to be following the Republican mantra that cuts are what everyone wants, does he really think that the average New Yorker would prefer that a poor person with a highly contagious deadly airborne disease, and no money to see a doctor, just ignores it. Not only is that morally wrong, but also incredibly ignorant. We could all be breathing the same air on a subway car or bus and then get infected also. Oh I guess that doesn't matter to Cuomo and his ilk since they don't have to take public transportation. Since they probably send their kids to private schools and own houses and don't rent, what do they care about those 1 million public school children in NYC or the 450,000 CUNY students. Nor do they care that the EMTS, nurses,physican assistants, policemen, firemen, road workers, snow plow drivers and yes, the hated teachers, have affordable housing, good schools for their children or health care. The governor and legislators say they can't afford to have the ultra rich move somewhere else and that's all that matters. Yet at the same time they want all the people that they don't care a hoot about to be there to wait on them, fix their roads, etc. Maybe it will take a general strike for people to realize that the city and state can't afford to lose the middle class and other workers. We're the ones that keep the city and state running. On the other hand, if even one millionaire left the city, why would it matter?
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers
135.
Buffalo Native
Buffalo, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
Not much has changed - whether we elect a Democrat or Republican the result is the same- penalize the poor for being poor and reward the rich for being rich.
"Now all the criminal
in their coats and their ties
are free to drink martinis
and watch the sun rise"
Bob Dylan
"Now all the criminal
in their coats and their ties
are free to drink martinis
and watch the sun rise"
Bob Dylan
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
136.
KJP
San Luis Obispo, Ca.
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
The two things that are missing in this equation once again are only the middle class and poor feel the pain, while the very wealthy do not contribute to our collective good with the surcharge loss. Wherever this ends it will not be good for anyone but the very wealthy, and we continue the march to an oligarchy.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
137.
JenofNJ
NJ
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
Yet another DINO shows his true Republican leanings.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
138.
I feel like the robber came back and promised not to take to much this next go around. How many times will we buy into these political spins on their inaction. I would feel more comfortable if the state constitution locked in the scope of government.
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
139.
ShowMe
Missouri
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
"secretive negotiations" --- why???
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
140.
Bill Schechter
Brookline MA
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
The extortion by the wealthy continues. They aren't New Yorkers. They are mercenaries. They belong to the Nation of What's In It For Us. (And enough is never enough). All this is enabled by the man who now sits in the chair once occupied by Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and calls himself a Democrat. Very sad,
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers
141.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
You know there's something very wrong with this country when Mario Cuomo's son cuts taxes for the very wealthy but penalizes ordinary folks by cutting spending on education and health care. These cuts would be easier to take (but not easier to understand) if everyone was asked to make sacrifices, but this isn't the case.
What's the justification for giving more money to the wealthy? Are they going to create more jobs for the rest of us like they've done in the past thirty years? Jobs in Walmart, Rite-Aide, Cumberland Farms and all the other convenience type businesses paying barely minimum-wage and offering only employee-paid benefits and no pensions? And when are we going to see the fat-cat politicians giving back their own government health care benefits and cutting their own government paid salaries?
Don't tell us what to do! If we need to give back some of our salaries and cut some of our benefits, you show us how to do it by doing it yourselves. If you can't walk the walk, don't ask others to do it.
What's the justification for giving more money to the wealthy? Are they going to create more jobs for the rest of us like they've done in the past thirty years? Jobs in Walmart, Rite-Aide, Cumberland Farms and all the other convenience type businesses paying barely minimum-wage and offering only employee-paid benefits and no pensions? And when are we going to see the fat-cat politicians giving back their own government health care benefits and cutting their own government paid salaries?
Don't tell us what to do! If we need to give back some of our salaries and cut some of our benefits, you show us how to do it by doing it yourselves. If you can't walk the walk, don't ask others to do it.
Recommend Recommended by 18 Readers
142.
steve
nyc
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
All this idiotic argument about state taxes for the rich is just a waste of time, and shows why the rich must be taxed - heavily - at the federal level where they can't escape it. Then if the states need more funding the federal government can give it to them. Otherwise it is just a big race to the bottom by all the state governments to cater to the obsessively and obscenely greedy among us while our civilization collapses into third-world status.
Congratulations to the rich and their enablers (the republican party and all the mindless sheep who enable them) for this noble plan, and as for America? RIP.....
Congratulations to the rich and their enablers (the republican party and all the mindless sheep who enable them) for this noble plan, and as for America? RIP.....
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
143.
In Hell's Kitchen
NYC
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
this is amazing...those who caused the financial meltdown are getting
a tax break while the People who got shafted by the financial meltdown
are getting shafted once more for good measure.
is it time for pitchforks ?
a tax break while the People who got shafted by the financial meltdown
are getting shafted once more for good measure.
is it time for pitchforks ?
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
144.
James
Chicago, IL
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
If you are unhappy with the cuts, feel free to move to Illinois. Here we have government simultaneously raising taxes and cutting services. Now we have Mayor-elect Emanuel who campaigned on extending the 9.75% sales tax to services like gym memberships and he won in a walk.
The Illinois comptroller was on '60 Minutes' admitting Illinois is the worst fiscally irresponsible state in the country. We are deadbeats.
The response? Just raise taxes. Make an anti-business climate worse.
Any wonder Caterpillar is among businesses contemplating leaving Illinois due to the anti-business climate?
Robert Frank penned a great article in this weekend's WSJ showing states like Illinois (and New York) that are too heavily reliant on taxing the top 1% earners are among those with the biggest budget deficits. At some point the tax and spend / buy votes with patronage programs has to stop. Remember in the last 40 years 3 Illinois governors have gone to jail and one will shortly be there.
If Governor Cuomo has to make some tough choices to cut bloated waste from the state budget and declines to raise taxes, my response is "can you run for governor in Illinois?"
The Illinois comptroller was on '60 Minutes' admitting Illinois is the worst fiscally irresponsible state in the country. We are deadbeats.
The response? Just raise taxes. Make an anti-business climate worse.
Any wonder Caterpillar is among businesses contemplating leaving Illinois due to the anti-business climate?
Robert Frank penned a great article in this weekend's WSJ showing states like Illinois (and New York) that are too heavily reliant on taxing the top 1% earners are among those with the biggest budget deficits. At some point the tax and spend / buy votes with patronage programs has to stop. Remember in the last 40 years 3 Illinois governors have gone to jail and one will shortly be there.
If Governor Cuomo has to make some tough choices to cut bloated waste from the state budget and declines to raise taxes, my response is "can you run for governor in Illinois?"
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
145.
Kirby
Albany, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
How long will it take for the American public in general (and now New Yorkers in particular) to realize that Reaganomics does not work? Trickle-down economics, by David Stockman's own admission, didn't work. And the so-called "millionaire's tax" would not have been a tax "increase"; rather, it would have been the continuation of a surcharge, so it is essentially a tax DECREASE. GE paid NO TAXES last year on a global profit of $14.2 BILLION. How many jobs did they create in THIS COUNTRY? ANd further corporate tax breaks for them? Nothing from nothing is nothing. Where are the jobs???
This budget will result in loss of jobs, more people on unemployment (hey, doesn't THAT trickle down to the state as an expense to pay out unemployment insurance and more Medicaid?) and food stamps, and more people leaving the state so that they can find jobs in other states. That trickle-down works; cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans does not.
How about getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq to save money for education and health care? Now that's a novel idea. I know it's the federal government, and not the state, but think of how much education and health care we might have been able to buy instead of those bombs. And how much gasoline and diesel fuel have we expended during the past decade in Afghanistan? That has contributed to driving up the supply-and-demand aspect for gasoline, hence driving up prices at the pump.
Just what is going on with our country? Our state? How did we get here?
This budget will result in loss of jobs, more people on unemployment (hey, doesn't THAT trickle down to the state as an expense to pay out unemployment insurance and more Medicaid?) and food stamps, and more people leaving the state so that they can find jobs in other states. That trickle-down works; cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans does not.
How about getting out of Afghanistan and Iraq to save money for education and health care? Now that's a novel idea. I know it's the federal government, and not the state, but think of how much education and health care we might have been able to buy instead of those bombs. And how much gasoline and diesel fuel have we expended during the past decade in Afghanistan? That has contributed to driving up the supply-and-demand aspect for gasoline, hence driving up prices at the pump.
Just what is going on with our country? Our state? How did we get here?
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
Why couldn't Spitzer have returned to the Governor's mansion? Is it because he got 'set up' by a republican[s] who was/were thrilled he had been caught and became Client 9 to put an abrupt stop to those he was bringing down on Wall Street as AG and didn't put up with garbage from anyone while governor. He is the ONLY democrat not in name only, but what we have needed from any of the DINOs we currently call leaders. He would have put a stop to all the democrats caving to every republican demand particularly knowing that what they want is so terribly bad for our democracy, Who cares about his extracurricular activities because I'm certain he's doing nothing that all those republicans haven't been doing throughout their lucrative careers in politics. Eliot Spitzer is a stand up democrat and should be put back in office who would never sell out 'the people' of this nation.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
147.
AAC
NY
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
Like spending cuts, tax increases have consequences. Ignoring those consequences is not something elected officials get to do. "Get it from the rich guy" is not a strategy.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader
148.
SBB
Locust Valley, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
2% is a big cut?
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
149.
willie klein
NYC
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
I'm sorry I voted for him. It was a terrible mistake, he's a lying
thieving politician.
thieving politician.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
pretty good outline of a budget if you are wealthy- keep your money and continue with superior schools. Equally clear that Cuomo looks forward to a Wall St careen in later life
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers Rob
Buffalo
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
The top 1% pay 43%, and the top 4% of NYS taxpayers pay 60% of NYS Income Tax. Please stop with the complaining about the rich paying "their fair share". They are paying their share, your share, and generally about half of everyone's share.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
152.
wanderindiana
Indiana
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
Money talks, everyone else walks. To the victors go the spoils, survival of the fittest, and all that jazz.
When a Democratic governor and a Democratic president cave to ultraconservative interests, what hope do any of us little people have?
Here in Indiana, the Democratic House members have been holed up in Urbana, Illinois in a procedural last stand against radical GOP legislation, but word is they are about to cave and go back to Indianapolis. I hope to God they find the will to stay in Illinois until the whole thing grinds to a halt, for that is the only way people will wake up to the thievery of public funds by private interests.
When a Democratic governor and a Democratic president cave to ultraconservative interests, what hope do any of us little people have?
Here in Indiana, the Democratic House members have been holed up in Urbana, Illinois in a procedural last stand against radical GOP legislation, but word is they are about to cave and go back to Indianapolis. I hope to God they find the will to stay in Illinois until the whole thing grinds to a halt, for that is the only way people will wake up to the thievery of public funds by private interests.
Recommend Recommended by 12 Readers
It was not mentioned in this article that the budget was in fact a balanced budget without smoke and mirrors. That will no doubt be evidenced in the next few days. As it stands, Governor Cuomo should receive applause and thanks for accomplishing what he has. That this budget will not chase more millionaires from the state is also good news. The fact is the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans (also known as taxpayers) already pay 72.4% of federal taxes. So they are good to keep in NY State.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
If it's a two party system, don't they have to behave differently?
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
155.
Robert Sadaty
Naples fl
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
Finally, a Democrat who understands something about fiscal restraint! Unless the voters of New York have a collective IQ of 75, Mr. Cuomo ought to be reelected as many times as he pleases. He is on track to save the state from financial collapse. Kudos to the new governor!
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
156.
Gangs of NY - As a Democrat, I'm reminded of "Andrew" the Butcher Cutter when he buries a meat cleaver in Monk McGinn's (my) back after the election.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
157.
Evan
Bronx, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:16 pm
I really wonder it would have made any difference if Carl Paladino had won instead of Cuomo. We would have gotten the same budget, but at least it would have been more entertaining.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
The problem is that when the children who suffer from these cuts can't find word for illiterates - there will be no tax base. So to those who say this is a victory for taxpayers ... good luck finding a taxpayer in 15 years.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
159.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
G. Dutter
Canadice, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Silver's statement that the economy has been in free fall since 2008 is a lie. The recession ended in June 2009. Personal income in NY State rose 4 percent in 2010. Silver, Cuomo, and supporting political leaders are perpetuating the false impression of continued crisis to push through a radical agenda of attacking the public sector for the enrichment of the rich. The only taxpayers to benefit from this budget are the top one percent of income earners. No one else gets a tax cut.
Indeed unemployment is high, but laying off more public employees after 44,000 have already been laid off will exacerbate the unevenness of the recovery and slow it down. This budget is an attack on the entire state on behalf of the top one percent.
Indeed unemployment is high, but laying off more public employees after 44,000 have already been laid off will exacerbate the unevenness of the recovery and slow it down. This budget is an attack on the entire state on behalf of the top one percent.
Recommend Recommended by 16 Readers
Tax cuts for the rich for and budget cuts for education and the poor. Cuomo should become a Republican so we can get rid of him in 2014 and elect someone whose economic priorities don't resemble Ronald Reagan.
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
161.
decker
WA
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
The Republicans and the Democrats are the two wings of the Landed Gentry party, so do not look for taxes on the rich, but do look for cuts to anything and everything that aids the poor and disadvantaged.
To no 3, "ron" of NY, when you no longer have a job or health insurance, let us see your comment about the kind Fascists that you support who are producing jobs. The Republicans have done nothing about creating jobs. Dream on.
To no 3, "ron" of NY, when you no longer have a job or health insurance, let us see your comment about the kind Fascists that you support who are producing jobs. The Republicans have done nothing about creating jobs. Dream on.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
162.
James
Long island
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Isn't a healthy, educated populace a smart investment for the future of our society?
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
163.
Angry American
NY, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Andrew Cuomo is running for president in 2016 -- and making New York's school kids pay the price, instead of taxing the some of the only people in America who have been doing better for the past decade: New York's MILLIONAIRES!
Message to Gov. Cuomo: You need to get through a Democratic primary to win the general election. Well, Gov, good luck with that!
Message to Gov. Cuomo: You need to get through a Democratic primary to win the general election. Well, Gov, good luck with that!
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
164.
Stephanie
Manhattan
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
The fact that the education budget is being cut and the rich will not be required to pay their fair share of taxes mocks NYC working class families. Shame on Bloomberg and Cuomo for saying they are for educating children but yet continue to fight the school system. Everything from the phoniness of charter schools supposed success to Bloomberg trying to break the teachers union is a sham to push through more greedy schemes while the poor and middle class struggle mightily to keep food on the table and struggle to afford healthcare. Their elitism is so out of touch with the average hard working decent New Yorker. Somebody please explain how Cuomo's budget will help more than 2% of New York's population? It's not like those rich New Yorkers with the tax breaks are going to open up a 300-persons manufacturing plant in Brooklyn or create a 500-person start-up tech company in Albany. Just where is all that tax-free money going Cuomo and Bloomberg? Perhaps your next campaign?
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
165.
dc lambert
nj
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
The millionaires whine that they 'need' to have lower taxes or - here's the threat - they'll move somewhere else. Hedge fund managers 'need' million dollar bonuses or - the threat- they'll take their 'talent' elsewhere.
Ok, leave. I'm not holding my breath, but go ahead.
And as for government 'belt tightening' --well, you know who is going to be tightening their belts, and it aint' going to be anyone privileged or connected. High up government officials will still collect their two pensions, collect their cadillac health care, and walk through the revolving doors of business/government/business. The corruption that is rampant inside government circles will just continue. It'll be the lowest level that'll have to tighten their belts. Without stringent regulation and reform, nothing will change except the unemployment rates.
Ok, leave. I'm not holding my breath, but go ahead.
And as for government 'belt tightening' --well, you know who is going to be tightening their belts, and it aint' going to be anyone privileged or connected. High up government officials will still collect their two pensions, collect their cadillac health care, and walk through the revolving doors of business/government/business. The corruption that is rampant inside government circles will just continue. It'll be the lowest level that'll have to tighten their belts. Without stringent regulation and reform, nothing will change except the unemployment rates.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
166.
Don
NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Why do a physicians need physician's assistants and nurse practitioners? Why does a nurse need a nurse's aid and orderly? How did we manage without these support staff in the past? For administrators to academics the state employ tens and thousands of support staff that cost tax payers millions of dollars. These are all service jobs that do not create new money for the state. How many Scientists and R & D positions has the state created during the last decade? How are we planning to fund our future expenditure at this rate? The answer has to be tax hikes.
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers
167.
Roy
Long Island
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
For the second time the Democratic former Attorney-Ceneral now Governor has sold us out.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
168.
Water Witch
York, PA
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
At least Pennsylvania got it stuck to them by a Republican!
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
169.
Greg
New York City
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
I've lived in NYC for over 15 years, first as a young person out of college, and I'm thankful for everything I've had the privilege to experience both professionally and personally. Now, after being priced out of two neighborhoods in Brooklyn and ending up in a low-performing school district in Queens, I've had enough. My wages have risen significantly since I came here but they haven't kept pace with the city's cost of living. I have a young family to consider and we've made an honest go of it. We're middle class and we simply can no longer afford the privilege of living in New York City. Governor Cuomo's budget makes clear the priorities of the state and they do not include us. We're moving to another state this summer, hopefully where the wealth gap is not so stingingly apparent or rubbed in by complicit government policies, but no place will rival this city's beauty, diversity, wisdom or culture. Farewell.
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
170.
Wait wait wait...So the solution to the budget problem is to cut revenue first, in order to do what exactly? Propagate the myth that giving tax cuts to the rich create jobs? And not only are they cutting revenue, they're proceeding to cut education??? So we give these rich people their tax cuts to put us deeper in the red FIRST, most importantly, and THEN we cut education to our children.
How much more blatant and shameless can they be? Not that they care what we say or think of course...
How much more blatant and shameless can they be? Not that they care what we say or think of course...
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
171.
sharon57
New York
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
#98--Gee I wish I had a job that paid $200,000 a year. I must be living below the poverty line if people who actually make $200,000 per year are just scraping by. Unfortunately I'm still too young for my pension and Medicare and I'm way to rich to qualify for food stamps.
I just can't seem to cash in on the government gravy trains.
I just can't seem to cash in on the government gravy trains.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
172.
zoolog
NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Would it had been unthinkable to both cut wasteful spending in Medicare/education, and tax the very rich? Another example of moral bankruptcy from our leaders.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
Wait...I thought the danger of toxic radiations was coming from Japan...now I see it's also coming from Texas, Wisconsin and Washington DC?? Time to move away from new York - do not worry, I am so little a high earner that my child needs to go to public school - yes, the one where kids start lunch at 10.30 am because there's not enough space in the cafeteria, so I won't be missed. And the feeling will be reciprocal.
Wonderful job Mr.Cuomo, you are finding your true place and fit within this increasingly hopeless system; I guess it was "do or die" - and you did - for the good of "the people", right? Right. Naturally. One suggestion: tell your immigrant maid not to clean the mirror in your bathroom too much in the future: you might like less and less what it reflects in the morning.
Wonderful job Mr.Cuomo, you are finding your true place and fit within this increasingly hopeless system; I guess it was "do or die" - and you did - for the good of "the people", right? Right. Naturally. One suggestion: tell your immigrant maid not to clean the mirror in your bathroom too much in the future: you might like less and less what it reflects in the morning.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
174.
Susan Chalfin
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
"Bloated" Medicaid? That's not news, it's editorializing. And on the wrong side to boot. What makes it bloated?--because New York, unlike say, Texas, actually provides health care for its more vulnerable citizens. It's outrageous that the high income surcharge isn't being extended, while education and health care budgets are being cut. Cuomo is a Republican. I might as well have voted for Paladino.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
175.
anna
New York
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
We need a song of protest.
"Can someone die from revulsion?"
Chorus: "Oh yeah, oh yeah"
......
Songwriters don't laught, just contribute. I am just giving an idea.
"Can someone die from revulsion?"
Chorus: "Oh yeah, oh yeah"
......
Songwriters don't laught, just contribute. I am just giving an idea.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
A budget without tax increases; what a novel, but welcome, concept. Congratulations to Governor Cuomo; now it's up to the legislature to do its part and enact the deal as is.
Recommend Recommended by 4 Readers
177.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Patricia T.
Central NY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
I guess we're getting used to being disappointed when Democrats make essentially the same decisions that Republicans do. Cut health care and education, indeed! When will there be "shared sacrifice" so we can get the middle class back on track? As for the poor -- now that Bob Herbert has left the Times, there's no one to advocate for them! The rich get richer . . . and we know how the rest goes. Just read the editorial today about the disparities in schools -- that's all you need to know about where we are and where we are heading, unless there's someone with a strong moral center who can make decisions that are more equitable.
Recommend Recommended by 17 Readers
178.
Is anybody still stupid enough to believe that tax breaks for the rich create jobs?
Ah, yes, apparently the governor of New York.
But of course, the education and health of the working class are of no concern for businesses that outsource their jobs overseas, or to the politicians they pay off to get their tax breaks.
Isn't it about time for a real labor party in the United States?
Ah, yes, apparently the governor of New York.
But of course, the education and health of the working class are of no concern for businesses that outsource their jobs overseas, or to the politicians they pay off to get their tax breaks.
Isn't it about time for a real labor party in the United States?
Recommend Recommended by 18 Readers
179.
LBS
Margaretville
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
A suggestion: Call and email Sheldon Silver tomorrow.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=064&sh=contact
We may have disparate views on New York -- but almost everyone I know loves this state, precisely because it is not Texas. (And if anyone who earns over $200,000 a year in this economy begrudges paying 2% more to keep the economy afloat -- I wish they would leave.) In New York we care about things like education,the elderly, health -- and the general state of the economy.
Anyway, as Anna noted, it is time to act: with kind hearts.
New York Democrats in the Assembly and Senate should take a page out of that Wisconsin book and leave the state. Then they can spotlight who Cuomo II is and what he is trying to do.
Cuomo HEART Cuomo.
but I HEART New York. And I think most of us LOVE New York, too.
http://assembly.state.ny.us/mem/?ad=064&sh=contact
We may have disparate views on New York -- but almost everyone I know loves this state, precisely because it is not Texas. (And if anyone who earns over $200,000 a year in this economy begrudges paying 2% more to keep the economy afloat -- I wish they would leave.) In New York we care about things like education,the elderly, health -- and the general state of the economy.
Anyway, as Anna noted, it is time to act: with kind hearts.
New York Democrats in the Assembly and Senate should take a page out of that Wisconsin book and leave the state. Then they can spotlight who Cuomo II is and what he is trying to do.
Cuomo HEART Cuomo.
but I HEART New York. And I think most of us LOVE New York, too.
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
180.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Cutting the high income surcharge while cutting support to education and healthcare is just bad policy. It places a crushing burden on municipalities who then must -- guess what? -- raise property taxes. It is not the high income surcharge tax that is driving people out of NY -- if that were so, Manhattan would be a desert since no one without a high income can afford to live there. But property tax levels are driving people out of NY. People move to CT or to the Southeast and save 2/3 or more on property taxes. Every student of public policy knows education should be funded from a progressive tax system not property taxes. It looks like our governor has been taking too many contributions from Wall Street.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
181.
Dr. DE
NYNY
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
I was in Bergdorf Goodman today. It was very crowded with people buying $500 scarves, $900 pairs of shoes, $300 perfumes, $700 sweaters, etc. Sure, they have a right to do so. But if they pay little taxes, and the middle class does, and this is how they use this "wealth" they "earned"and there are people going sick, kids uneducated, etc. I just wondered how they feel in these $$$ outfits that they "earned." I guess they don't think or have to think about the big picture, about all those service cuts, etc. since they are too busy looking at shoes.
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers
182.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
People have got to understand: there isn't a lot of money to go around. To be solvent, cuts have to be made. Now if only the unions would give back, pay their fair share, we could at least become a little more fiscally sound. Afraid the governor is turning from a blue to a red? It doesn't matter as long as he will right the ship.
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers
183.
nikip
Atlanta, GA
March 27th, 2011
10:34 pm
Next time we hear someone talking about "shared sacrifice," let's remember who's doing the sacrificing and who isn't. We're squeezing education and health care programs for regular people - which are also vital investments in our future - while the most well-off among us have felt virtually zero genuine pain. When are we going to start insisting that those folks make sacrifices too?
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
184.
s.l
new york,ny
March 27th, 2011
10:35 pm
Once again there is no malpractice reform.Maybe the next time a woman needs a gynecologist/obstetrician sheldon silver from weitz and luxunberg will schedule the c section as the malpractice rates are forcing gynecologists out of business.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
185.
HypeHooper72
Miami, FL
March 27th, 2011
10:37 pm
wishing to be wealthy, wishing to be rich, wishing, wishing, wishing...taxes are just a stranger...can live a life of crime and get away with it...wishing to be wealthy, wishing to be rich.
Recommend Recommended by 1 Reader
Is cutting educational funds in NYC and throughout the country the answer? Dumbing down is spreading on a bipartisan basis....strangely in the face of the need to elevate our educational standards. If you think help is on the way, think again!
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
187.
learned hand
nyc
March 27th, 2011
10:41 pm
Say goodbye to the doctors...they are all leaving.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
188.
Cuomo is a Republican?
No?
Oh!! I get it--he's a Blue Dog Democrat.
The only real threat to America’s innovation, growth and economic health is the right-wing of the Republican party and the Blue Dog Democrats, who usually align with Republicans.
Support recall campaigns across the nation to remove right-wing Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats from elected office.
#19, E. Vincent:
I agree and empathize with you--and if it's any consolation, I voted for President Obama....
At least, the majority of voters in Oregon are progressive liberals, so we still have intelligent, educated and rational representatives-of-the-people politicians here--but, as the Nov 2, 2010 election demonstrated, it's only by a thin margin... scary.
No?
Oh!! I get it--he's a Blue Dog Democrat.
The only real threat to America’s innovation, growth and economic health is the right-wing of the Republican party and the Blue Dog Democrats, who usually align with Republicans.
Support recall campaigns across the nation to remove right-wing Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats from elected office.
#19, E. Vincent:
I agree and empathize with you--and if it's any consolation, I voted for President Obama....
At least, the majority of voters in Oregon are progressive liberals, so we still have intelligent, educated and rational representatives-of-the-people politicians here--but, as the Nov 2, 2010 election demonstrated, it's only by a thin margin... scary.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
189.
social worker
Bronx
March 27th, 2011
10:42 pm
unacceptable that high earners get a tax break
Cuomo is unfortunately a republican who calls himself a democrat
total disgrace
Cuomo is unfortunately a republican who calls himself a democrat
total disgrace
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
190.
Wmiller39
New York
March 27th, 2011
10:44 pm
When even a Democratic governor realizes that the gravy train days of spending money we don't have are over, the left can give up going back to the spending days of yore. For the next three years there will be continued spending cuts and the "millionaire's tax" will soon be a distant memory. I never would have guessed Cuomo had it in him; but I am definitely glad I voted for him for governor.
Recommend Recommended by 3 Readers
191.
Consolidation of Wealth
Puerto Rico
March 27th, 2011
10:46 pm
Rob from the poor, give to the rich; way to go New York! Our society has become really vile, immoral, and perhaps evil. Even the Democrats and Progressives we elect to fight the Super Rich, the Republicans, are worthless, and in the back pocket of Wall Street. We need a new social movement in America to take on the Super Rich and put a choke hold on the Greed Monster slithering out of Wall Street daily.
Recommend Recommended by 15 Readers
I'm sure many wealthy people read the article about their new windfall of money. I'll bet they dont read these comments, but if they do, I implore you all to send that extra money to soup kitchens and homeless shelters to help the people who suffered while you prospered. And when you get used to feeling good about helping people, do some more and encourage your well-off freinds to do so as well. I promise, you will feel good about yourselves and so will the people you helped.
Recommend Recommended by 9 Readers
193.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Josh
Savannah, GA
March 27th, 2011
10:48 pm
When are our elected Democratic officials going to enact policies that the Democratic base favors? With the choice of soaking teachers and unions and allowing the relatively lax New York City rent regulations to expire or dipping lightly into the mad money of millionaires and real estate developers, Governor Cuomo chose the easy target, the people of New York. This is no Fair Deal or New Deal or Square Deal. What possible virtue is there in damaging the middle class further in order to avoid any short-term discomfort to the wealthy? The Governor should have looked to Jerry Brown in California to see an example of political courage and good sense.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
194.
Uptownles
New York, NY
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
Looks like Silver sold out to protect his own paycheck! No malpractice caps...hmmmm who does not help...That's right Sheldon Silver and his law firm...Thanks Shelly!
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
A good time to quote Leonard Cohen:
"Everybody knows the fight is fixed,
The poor stay poor
And the rich get rich,
That's how it goes,
Everyboy knows."
"Everybody knows the fight is fixed,
The poor stay poor
And the rich get rich,
That's how it goes,
Everyboy knows."
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
196.
bbl229
New Fairfield, Ct
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
I bet if you looked you would find most of the politicians in NY and other states benefit from the tax breaks they place into law. I wonder how many politicians send their children to public school. They have been paying lip service for decades while their own children go to private schools
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
197.
Johnsy
Long Beach
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
Doesn't make much sense at all. Should be the other way around.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
198.
anna
New York
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
"If it's a two party system, don't they have to behave differently?"#154
It isn't. It's one-pretending to be two-party system - to fool the population.
More dangerous than one party system.
It isn't. It's one-pretending to be two-party system - to fool the population.
More dangerous than one party system.
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
199.
HIGHLIGHT (what's this?)
Always remember, people in high places fear those smarter than them. Restore money for education, in actual teaching, not swimming pools or school auditorium construction. Remember the old dirt floor country schoolhouses of yesterday? The teachers built America through education, the buildings didnt.
My wish is that someday, High School Diplomas are mandatory. That would go a long way to creating happy lives and emptying prisons.
You teachers are the smartest among us, adapt to the new finances and thrive. Inspire students, even those that are rebellious, to learn at fast speeds through verbal discourse. Too many people are taught to sit and absorb, only to do the same the rest of their lives. Dont punish rebellious students, nurture them. They are our next generation of leaders and creators.
My wish is that someday, High School Diplomas are mandatory. That would go a long way to creating happy lives and emptying prisons.
You teachers are the smartest among us, adapt to the new finances and thrive. Inspire students, even those that are rebellious, to learn at fast speeds through verbal discourse. Too many people are taught to sit and absorb, only to do the same the rest of their lives. Dont punish rebellious students, nurture them. They are our next generation of leaders and creators.
Recommend Recommended by 5 Readers
200.
Raging Granny
Brooklyn, New York
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
I am disgusted that I voted for Cuomo. I won't make that mistake again.
Remember that many of New York's millionaires and billionaires who may have successfully bought themselves a tax break with this proposed budget made their money in finance. They created no jobs, while laying off thousands and producing the financial mess the country is in. Do see the film _Inside Job_ if you haven't yet. And do call Cuomo's office and your Assembly Representative and State Senator to tell them how you feel about this.
Remember that many of New York's millionaires and billionaires who may have successfully bought themselves a tax break with this proposed budget made their money in finance. They created no jobs, while laying off thousands and producing the financial mess the country is in. Do see the film _Inside Job_ if you haven't yet. And do call Cuomo's office and your Assembly Representative and State Senator to tell them how you feel about this.
Recommend Recommended by 18 Readers
Things must be bad in NY if a democratic governor sees the light!!
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
202.
Leonie Haimson
NYC
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
You see how in this article our children are "special interests" and millionaires are "the people"? What is the world coming to when the NYT accepts the absurd and corrupt spin of the plutocrats? It is a very sad day for this city, this state and this nation.
Recommend Recommended by 21 Readers
"The $132.5 billion budget would end an income tax surcharge on high earners and impose big spending cuts on education and health care."
Why not just kill all the poor, uneducated and unhealthy people and get it over with? At the same time, we should remove those words from the Statue "Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor..."
We need to keep our wealthy people wealthy! Why should they have to shoulder any social burdens in our country? Why should they care?
If we tax the wealthy, how are they going to continue to support those caviar exporters in Greece, or the Prada, Gucci, Louis Vitton and Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bugatti factory employees in Europe or use their Off-Shore Banking companies and Yacht builders in Bimini or "Accounting Firms" in Switzerland -- or fund all those immensely profitable Call Centers in India and Ipod factories in China?
Don't you people get it? It is the responsibility of the American working class to support our plutocratic elite AS WELL AS the rest of the world!
If you can get an invitation into one of our wealthy, security-walled neighborhoods, how many American-made cars will you see parked in those eight-car garages or 48" American-made Plasma TVs in those 1200 square-foot living rooms?
Why do you think all those newly cashed-up people from China and India are so desperate to gain US citizenship and move here (while keeping their slave-labor factories intact overseas) and why are nearly 100% of them 'republican' donors and party members? Because they love our constitution? NO!
Because we have the lowest taxes of all the first-world countries combined! And we're getting ready to lower them yet again! Ain't it wonderful! It's so simple even a B-movie actor can understand it all and become our president for, not one, but two terms!
...and people think Americans are stupid. Go figure....
Why not just kill all the poor, uneducated and unhealthy people and get it over with? At the same time, we should remove those words from the Statue "Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor..."
We need to keep our wealthy people wealthy! Why should they have to shoulder any social burdens in our country? Why should they care?
If we tax the wealthy, how are they going to continue to support those caviar exporters in Greece, or the Prada, Gucci, Louis Vitton and Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bugatti factory employees in Europe or use their Off-Shore Banking companies and Yacht builders in Bimini or "Accounting Firms" in Switzerland -- or fund all those immensely profitable Call Centers in India and Ipod factories in China?
Don't you people get it? It is the responsibility of the American working class to support our plutocratic elite AS WELL AS the rest of the world!
If you can get an invitation into one of our wealthy, security-walled neighborhoods, how many American-made cars will you see parked in those eight-car garages or 48" American-made Plasma TVs in those 1200 square-foot living rooms?
Why do you think all those newly cashed-up people from China and India are so desperate to gain US citizenship and move here (while keeping their slave-labor factories intact overseas) and why are nearly 100% of them 'republican' donors and party members? Because they love our constitution? NO!
Because we have the lowest taxes of all the first-world countries combined! And we're getting ready to lower them yet again! Ain't it wonderful! It's so simple even a B-movie actor can understand it all and become our president for, not one, but two terms!
...and people think Americans are stupid. Go figure....
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
204.
JAD
Somewhere in Maine
March 27th, 2011
11:04 pm
Cut public services; ease the tax burden of the rich. Same old same old. And why are we undermining governments in the Middle East that have the same philosophy?
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
205.
doug p
ny
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Wow. I didn't vote for Cuomo, but now I kind of wish I had. Very welcome news, and very unexpected.
Go Gov go!
Go Gov go!
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers
206.
joe
NY
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
They have declared war on us. I am seriously wondering whether it is time for the American people to declare war upon the oligarchy and their lackeys in the state and federal government. The gap between the rich and poor has never been this wide and the government's solution to a budget problem resulting from an economic crisis caused by the wealthy is to cut aid to schools and health care. We don't matter to them and they are leading this country into a civil war.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
207.
Paul
Huntington, NY
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Education will do fine, they get plenty of money from big increases in the past. And teachers in LI will have to survive on their 120K salaries for 9 months work. Yes, I know they work hard and education is important, but there still will be enough money for the schools to do very well; maybe the teachers wont get 3 and 4 % raise per year as they have in the past 20 years.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
Dont ration health care, teach people how to be healthy and to conserve our medical resources. For example, if you have a cold, dont go to the doctor for medicine that wont help. Learn about healthcare yourselves on the internet. Just dont think you are sick because you read about a disease. Turn off the TV, and visit with a nieghbor to help them physically and improve their spirits and yours, and you will both be happier. People of all walks of life need to interact and help each other more, which will improve society vastly. Leave your cages.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
209.
Allan Aronson
Centereach, New York
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Now that it seems the complaint comments outnumber those in favor why don't we start exercising our muscle and demand that our legislators do not accept this budget. If it is a done deal then work on renewing legislation to continue the surcharge and find money for education and Medicaid.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
From a vantage point in Ohio, I am incredulous at the ability of the very wealthy to avoid paying their share of the social costs, considering the enormity of their benefits. This has got to change. And it will.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
211.
When will people in the U.S. wake up and realize what a bill of goods they've been sold by neoliberals? It takes a lot of guts to cut health care and education while allowing the rich, who have been involved in an extended party since Reagan, to get richer. When will people vote their interests instead of voting for fools and hooligans?
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
Can one Republican answer, honestly, whether this country is better off than it was 10 years ago?
If we are not, and, we are not, then we must stop this insanity of not raising taxes on the richest 2% of this country and slashing what remains of our fragile safety net for the middle class.
Time for a third party.
If we are not, and, we are not, then we must stop this insanity of not raising taxes on the richest 2% of this country and slashing what remains of our fragile safety net for the middle class.
Time for a third party.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
an appalling budget that rewards the wealthy and hurts the rest of us, as usual.
Cuomo, Obama, almost all the Dems in Congress -- they're really all Republicans and do not deserve our votes.
It's way past time to vote third party at every level of government.
Cuomo, Obama, almost all the Dems in Congress -- they're really all Republicans and do not deserve our votes.
It's way past time to vote third party at every level of government.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
214.
Cuts in healthcare and education, cuts in taxes for millionaires? Hmmm, sounds like a Republican governor ... oh wait....
So these are our choices: transfer money from the public to the billionaires, or .....transfer money form the public to the billionaires. Can't you see the difference? It's so obvious. I'm glad and relieved that the billionaires have this so well under control.
So these are our choices: transfer money from the public to the billionaires, or .....transfer money form the public to the billionaires. Can't you see the difference? It's so obvious. I'm glad and relieved that the billionaires have this so well under control.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
215.
J Edgar Groover
NYC
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Watching the empire crumble is such a drag...
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
Our choices are but two: evil Republicans or cowardly Democrats. I think I'll sit out the next 4 years or so.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
217.
Douglas O'Keefe
SF, CA
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Hmmm--lower taxes on the rich and cut funding for schools and health care. What a surprise. Third World, here we come . . .
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers Things must be bad in NY if a democratic governor sees the light!!
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
202.
Leonie Haimson
NYC
March 27th, 2011
11:03 pm
You see how in this article our children are "special interests" and millionaires are "the people"? What is the world coming to when the NYT accepts the absurd and corrupt spin of the plutocrats? It is a very sad day for this city, this state and this nation.
Recommend Recommended by 21 Readers
"The $132.5 billion budget would end an income tax surcharge on high earners and impose big spending cuts on education and health care."
Why not just kill all the poor, uneducated and unhealthy people and get it over with? At the same time, we should remove those words from the Statue "Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor..."
We need to keep our wealthy people wealthy! Why should they have to shoulder any social burdens in our country? Why should they care?
If we tax the wealthy, how are they going to continue to support those caviar exporters in Greece, or the Prada, Gucci, Louis Vitton and Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bugatti factory employees in Europe or use their Off-Shore Banking companies and Yacht builders in Bimini or "Accounting Firms" in Switzerland -- or fund all those immensely profitable Call Centers in India and Ipod factories in China?
Don't you people get it? It is the responsibility of the American working class to support our plutocratic elite AS WELL AS the rest of the world!
If you can get an invitation into one of our wealthy, security-walled neighborhoods, how many American-made cars will you see parked in those eight-car garages or 48" American-made Plasma TVs in those 1200 square-foot living rooms?
Why do you think all those newly cashed-up people from China and India are so desperate to gain US citizenship and move here (while keeping their slave-labor factories intact overseas) and why are nearly 100% of them 'republican' donors and party members? Because they love our constitution? NO!
Because we have the lowest taxes of all the first-world countries combined! And we're getting ready to lower them yet again! Ain't it wonderful! It's so simple even a B-movie actor can understand it all and become our president for, not one, but two terms!
...and people think Americans are stupid. Go figure....
Why not just kill all the poor, uneducated and unhealthy people and get it over with? At the same time, we should remove those words from the Statue "Give us your tired, your hungry, your poor..."
We need to keep our wealthy people wealthy! Why should they have to shoulder any social burdens in our country? Why should they care?
If we tax the wealthy, how are they going to continue to support those caviar exporters in Greece, or the Prada, Gucci, Louis Vitton and Ferrari/Lamborghini/Bugatti factory employees in Europe or use their Off-Shore Banking companies and Yacht builders in Bimini or "Accounting Firms" in Switzerland -- or fund all those immensely profitable Call Centers in India and Ipod factories in China?
Don't you people get it? It is the responsibility of the American working class to support our plutocratic elite AS WELL AS the rest of the world!
If you can get an invitation into one of our wealthy, security-walled neighborhoods, how many American-made cars will you see parked in those eight-car garages or 48" American-made Plasma TVs in those 1200 square-foot living rooms?
Why do you think all those newly cashed-up people from China and India are so desperate to gain US citizenship and move here (while keeping their slave-labor factories intact overseas) and why are nearly 100% of them 'republican' donors and party members? Because they love our constitution? NO!
Because we have the lowest taxes of all the first-world countries combined! And we're getting ready to lower them yet again! Ain't it wonderful! It's so simple even a B-movie actor can understand it all and become our president for, not one, but two terms!
...and people think Americans are stupid. Go figure....
Recommend Recommended by 11 Readers
204.
JAD
Somewhere in Maine
March 27th, 2011
11:04 pm
Cut public services; ease the tax burden of the rich. Same old same old. And why are we undermining governments in the Middle East that have the same philosophy?
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
205.
doug p
ny
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Wow. I didn't vote for Cuomo, but now I kind of wish I had. Very welcome news, and very unexpected.
Go Gov go!
Go Gov go!
Recommend Recommended by 0 Readers
206.
joe
NY
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
They have declared war on us. I am seriously wondering whether it is time for the American people to declare war upon the oligarchy and their lackeys in the state and federal government. The gap between the rich and poor has never been this wide and the government's solution to a budget problem resulting from an economic crisis caused by the wealthy is to cut aid to schools and health care. We don't matter to them and they are leading this country into a civil war.
Recommend Recommended by 13 Readers
207.
Paul
Huntington, NY
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Education will do fine, they get plenty of money from big increases in the past. And teachers in LI will have to survive on their 120K salaries for 9 months work. Yes, I know they work hard and education is important, but there still will be enough money for the schools to do very well; maybe the teachers wont get 3 and 4 % raise per year as they have in the past 20 years.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
Dont ration health care, teach people how to be healthy and to conserve our medical resources. For example, if you have a cold, dont go to the doctor for medicine that wont help. Learn about healthcare yourselves on the internet. Just dont think you are sick because you read about a disease. Turn off the TV, and visit with a nieghbor to help them physically and improve their spirits and yours, and you will both be happier. People of all walks of life need to interact and help each other more, which will improve society vastly. Leave your cages.
Recommend Recommended by 2 Readers
209.
Allan Aronson
Centereach, New York
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Now that it seems the complaint comments outnumber those in favor why don't we start exercising our muscle and demand that our legislators do not accept this budget. If it is a done deal then work on renewing legislation to continue the surcharge and find money for education and Medicaid.
Recommend Recommended by 7 Readers
From a vantage point in Ohio, I am incredulous at the ability of the very wealthy to avoid paying their share of the social costs, considering the enormity of their benefits. This has got to change. And it will.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
211.
When will people in the U.S. wake up and realize what a bill of goods they've been sold by neoliberals? It takes a lot of guts to cut health care and education while allowing the rich, who have been involved in an extended party since Reagan, to get richer. When will people vote their interests instead of voting for fools and hooligans?
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
Can one Republican answer, honestly, whether this country is better off than it was 10 years ago?
If we are not, and, we are not, then we must stop this insanity of not raising taxes on the richest 2% of this country and slashing what remains of our fragile safety net for the middle class.
Time for a third party.
If we are not, and, we are not, then we must stop this insanity of not raising taxes on the richest 2% of this country and slashing what remains of our fragile safety net for the middle class.
Time for a third party.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
an appalling budget that rewards the wealthy and hurts the rest of us, as usual.
Cuomo, Obama, almost all the Dems in Congress -- they're really all Republicans and do not deserve our votes.
It's way past time to vote third party at every level of government.
Cuomo, Obama, almost all the Dems in Congress -- they're really all Republicans and do not deserve our votes.
It's way past time to vote third party at every level of government.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
214.
Cuts in healthcare and education, cuts in taxes for millionaires? Hmmm, sounds like a Republican governor ... oh wait....
So these are our choices: transfer money from the public to the billionaires, or .....transfer money form the public to the billionaires. Can't you see the difference? It's so obvious. I'm glad and relieved that the billionaires have this so well under control.
So these are our choices: transfer money from the public to the billionaires, or .....transfer money form the public to the billionaires. Can't you see the difference? It's so obvious. I'm glad and relieved that the billionaires have this so well under control.
Recommend Recommended by 10 Readers
215.
J Edgar Groover
NYC
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Watching the empire crumble is such a drag...
Recommend Recommended by 8 Readers
Our choices are but two: evil Republicans or cowardly Democrats. I think I'll sit out the next 4 years or so.
Recommend Recommended by 6 Readers
217.
Douglas O'Keefe
SF, CA
March 27th, 2011
11:22 pm
Hmmm--lower taxes on the rich and cut funding for schools and health care. What a surprise. Third World, here we come . . .
Recommend Recommended by 14 Readers 
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