After the Governor released his proposed budget today, plenty of people had a lot to say about all of the fees and oh so many budget cuts. Everyone gets hurt, from Medicare recipients to grade school children, college students and unions. Naturally constituent groups that are directly affected are going to be angry and seek to change what the Governor intends on doing.
Witness Dan Cantor at Working Families Party on the budget:
This is not shared sacrifice. The Governor proposes to balance the budget in an imbalanced way: by raising taxes on the middle class while simultaneously reducing the services we all rely on.In this budget there's a tax on almost everything. Drinking, smoking, driving, food, health care, going to the movies, downloading music, clothes and haircuts. In total, it's billions in regressive taxes - "nuisance taxes" - that don't add up to a sensible approach.
There is a fair way to end the fiscal crisis. It's called the Fair Share Tax Reform plan. Prudent spending cuts will be necessary. But common-sense and fairness require that we also ask the state's wealthy to carry their fair share of the load. Right now, they don't, and the Governor is asking everyone to sacrifice except those who can most afford to do so.
That's what shared sacrifice must mean, and we hope Albany leaders will see that.
Well speaking of Albany leaders, or at least one that hopes to become Senate Majority Leader President Pro Tempore, Malcolm Smith had something to say as well. Of course, he was more neutral in his response, or so it seemed:
"We applaud the Governor for putting together an honest and courageous Executive Budget. Senate Democrats intend to thoroughly review its proposals and discuss them within our conference. From the Upstate counties to the suburbs of Long Island, Senate Democrats will help lead our state out of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, by funding a fair budget that will allow us to reduce spending without severely impairing the state's ability to provide essential services. Times are tough and so are the choices we have to make, but any cuts must reflect the principle of shared sacrifice among all sectors as we work together to return our state to fiscal solvency," said Senate Democratic Leader Malcolm A. Smith.
Both Cantor and Smith incorporate the words "shared sacrifice" into their press releases, but does it mean the same thing to each? Cantor doesn't want to see WFP supporters and a progressively-minded budget tossed aside just because of a large money gap to be filled. Hopefully Smith thinks the same thing, though you never know what you'll get with that dealmakerbreaker.
Like what I and many others have said, the income tax needs to be dealt with so that the rich shoulder more of the burden and not just with fees on luxury cars and what not. Paterson addressed those concerns by saying that the most a tax on the wealthy could do was fill $6 billion out of the total $15 billion deficit. Even if that is correct, six billion is still a large chunk of cash and would eliminate the need to make so many cuts and add an even larger amount of ridiculous fees. Perhaps the Governor should sit down with Cantor and bring along Smithjust so both elected men know what the true meaning of "shared sacrifice" is.
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