Indefensible Cuomonomics Hit Home
November 29, 2011
By Danny Donohue
Local government layoffs, facility closures, hospital cuts, service reductions, chronic under-staffing. It’s all part of the autumn season across New York thanks to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s state budget and ill-conceived tax cap scheme that are clearly making a bad economic situation a lot harder to manage, if not actually worse.
Hard to imagine why the Governor has taken to an advertising campaign to pat himself on the back for his “accomplishments” that make it harder for localities to manage their budgets and diminish the quality of life in our communities.
The reality of the tax cap initiative is very different from the perception that was sold to the public last spring. It does not reduce taxes, it simply limits the ability of local governments to address their budget challenges by imposing an artificial cap on their budget growth. The result is now being felt by counties, cities, towns and villages who face the hard reality of service cuts, closures and other pain.
The continuing sluggish economy isn’t helping matters but budget pressures are made worse by Gov. Cuomo’s cuts in state aid and his stubborn resistence to extending the existing personal income tax surcharge on the wealthiest one percent of New Yorkers. Think about it: localities are hurting, state operations have been cut to the bone, public workers have already sacrificed, retirees have been charged more for their health coverage, state revenue projects are alarmingly lower than expected. But Gov. Cuomo is still hell-bent on giving a $5 billion TAX CUT to the super rich!
Indefensible is the only polite way I can describe it.
